The Kitsune Chronicles Part 2: Spirit of the Fox
by RiverGriffinX
Summary: A malfunction in the well drags Kagome's modern day friends into the feudal era. To make matters worse, a curse has turned Kagome into a fox! Now it's a race against time to change her back, or she may be stuck as a fox forever.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: RiverGriffinX here with a sequel to Shippo's Christmas! It's a short chapter, but we hope you enjoy it anyway. Enjoy! :)**

**The Kitsune Chronicles part 2: Spirit of the Fox**

**1.**

"I don't know, Eri," Yuka sighed one afternoon, as they left school after a long and difficult test, "It seems odd how often Kagome's away. Don't you think there could be something she's not telling us?"

"Her mom wouldn't let anything happen, you know that!" Ayumi butted in, always the optimist. Kagome _had_ been at school today, after all, even if she had dashed off straight after the test.

"But she can't be sick this often, it just doesn't make sense!" Yuka argued, frowning.

"Hojo's going to bring something to her later. Maybe we can go with him and check it out…" Eri suggested, shrugging.

"Yeah, we should check on her," Ayumi agreed "Inuyasha seemed nice, but Kagome complains so much about him."

"Yeah" Eri scowled, folding her arms, "And we know she wouldn't do that for no reason."

* * *

"Hojo!" Eri called down the sidewalk, later on that day, "Can we come with you to check on Kagome?"

She, Ayumi and Yuka had hurried to catch up to Hojo when they saw him striding towards the Higurashi shrine. He stopped in his tracks to look behind him, surprised, as he heard his name called.  
"Uh, okay," Hojo replied, carrying a bag of pressure point bracelets that must have been yet another gift to Kagome. He continued to try and go out with Kagome, completely oblivious that she already had a boyfriend. In fact, as far as he was concerned, _he _was Kagome's boyfriend.

Kagome's friends had decided not to tell him about Inuyasha until they deemed him 'worthier' than Hojo. _If_ they ever deemed him worthier than Hojo, that is.  
They walked together down to the shrine, and clambered up the steep stairs, only to see Kagome rushing past the sacred tree and towards the well. Unfortunately she did not see her modern day friends approaching. Instead she was mumbling to herself, throwing her overstuffed yellow backpack over her shoulder and scowling with annoyance. Though Hojo didn't hear what she was mumbling, the girls caught a few muttered words.

"-yasha's gonna kill me! I'm late again! Stupid test… If only he would stop chasing that statue for more then five mi-!" was all they heard before she was out of sight.  
Yuka raised an eyebrow at the others and, seeing Hojo was out of earshot, muttered "well?"  
"I still don't think Kagome would drop school like that just to see him," Eri muttered, although some part of her was beginning to agree with Yuka.

"Strange," said Hojo, who hadn't been listening to the girls, "What could she need to do in the well house?"

Yuka's eyes had narrowed, her gaze fixed on the closed well house door, "only one way to find out."

Glancing around to make sure none of Kagome's family members were watching, the three girls crept quietly over to the well house. Hojo followed curiously behind, as clueless as ever. Turning around, Yuka placed a finger to her mouth and hissed 'shh!' before sliding the well house door open a small crack. She peered inside and the other girls peered around her to get a look. But all they could see was darkness.

Warily, Yuka and Eri slid the door open completely and stepped inside. Hojo and Ayumi followed them in, the latter absentmindedly sliding the door shut behind her. One never leaves a well house door open, after all. But as they gazed around in the dim light, they soon realised that Kagome was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is she?" Eri asked, bewildered.

"I don't know," Yuka replied, equally as stunned.

"She has to be in here somewhere," Hojo added, still clutching the bracelets that had been his present to Kagome.

"We saw her come in here!" Ayumi agreed.

Instantly a search began. They called out Kagome's name several times and searched every nook and cranny in the dark little well house. But nowhere was she to be found. It was as though she had vanished into thin air, though the girls were loath to believe that. It was dark and more than a little spooky in the well house, and they jumped at strange shadows.

"Come on, Kagome," Eri called, trying hard not to tremble, "This isn't funny! We know you're hiding in here!"

They half expected and hoped to hear Kagome's shrill giggle and see her tumble out of her hiding place, smirking at having been able to scare her friends. But that didn't happen, and they stood facing a dark, empty well house with Kagome nowhere in sight.

"This is weird," Yuka moaned, rubbing the Goosebumps on her arms, "How can she have just disappeared like that?"

"Strange indeed," Hojo murmured, still standing in front of the door.

Ayumi, on the other hand, had become curious about the one interesting object in this well house – the well. Usually, from what Ayumi had seen of the well a while ago, it was covered by a wooden lid. But now the well was completely open and that intrigued her. Had Kagome accidently fallen in and hurt herself? But when Ayumi strode down the steps and peered into the well, she saw only darkness.

"Kagome," she called down into the well, "Are you there?"

"Why would she be in the well?" Eri asked sceptically, appearing at Ayumi's side.

"Yeah, you can't even see the bottom of it," Yuka agreed, wrinkling her nose as she appeared at Ayumi's other side. Hojo remained at the top of the steps.

"Oh, well, I thought she might have fallen in," Ayumi sighed, looking worried.

Yuka was about to ask _how_ Kagome could have possibly fallen into it – she wasn't exactly clumsy – when a strange noise began to reach them from within the darkness of the well. It sounded almost like a drain, sucking water down into a long pipe. But it wasn't water it was sucking – it was air. Curiously, the three girls peered over the edge of the well as the sucking sound grew louder.

"What is-?" Eri began, but was cut off as a bright light suddenly burst from the well, and the air around them was suddenly sucked down into it.

They barely had time to scream before they were sucked down too, disappearing into the darkness of the well, unable to struggling against the pulling force of whatever it was that was dragging them down. And as quickly as it had come, the sucking sound stopped and the well returned to normal. Hojo stood stunned at what he had just seen.

He swallowed hard and called hesitantly, "E-Eri, Yuka…Ayumi?"

But no one answered. The pressure-point bracelets clattered to the ground as Hojo turned and dashed out of the well house, fearing that the well would come back to life and suck him in too. But he could barely believe what he had just seen. The well had just eaten the three girls – and it may well have eaten Kagome, too!

Yuka couldn't describe the sensation she was feeling as she was pulled down into the darkness of the well. She expected to feel hard ground at any moment and braced herself for the impact, but it never came. Instead, a feeling of weightlessness descended over her and she opened her eyes to find herself seemingly floating in an endless void. The space around her was midnight blue, like the night sky, and there were floating dots of light like fireflies all around her body. Looking to her left, she saw Eri and Ayumi were staring around in bewilderment, floating in the void just like she was.

"What's happening?" Eri asked, eyes wide and shocked. Ayumi had clasped her hands in front of her chest, as though in silent prayer.

"I don't know!" Yuka cried, looking around frantically. She was just beginning to panic when a bright light seemed to rise up from beneath her feet and engulfed the void around her.

As the light faded, she felt firm ground beneath her feet and dropped to her knees. Next to her, she heard Eri and Ayumi do the same. Breathing heavily, the three girls opened their eyes and stared at their surroundings. The ground beneath them was almost like sand, and Eri shuddered when she saw what looked like a fragment of bone half buried near her leg. They gazed at the four walls that surrounded them, enclosing them in a very small and dark place. Looking up, they saw a small square of bright light. Realization hit all three of them at the same time.

"We're at the bottom of the well!"

"But wait," Eri said, after a moment of stunned silence, "Weren't we in the well house? So why is there light up there?"

"And what was with that void thing?" Yuka added, raising an eyebrow.

"Perhaps we hit our heads and dreamed it up," Ayumi suggested, staring up at the light above them.

"All three of us dreamed the same dream?" Yuka couldn't help being sceptical about that. She stood up, brushing the sand from her knees and school skirt.

"We should climb out of this well," Eri suggested, also standing up and brushing herself off, "And figure out what happened."

As Ayumi stood up and they paused to figure out how to climb out of the well, they heard strange sounds coming from somewhere outside. It sounded like someone yelling, a faint scream, and then what sounded like laughter – great snorting laughter, as though a pig was cackling madly. The three girls exchanged glances.

"Tell me I'm not hearing things," Eri sighed, "I've had enough craziness for one day."

"I can hear it, too!" Ayumi assured her, tapping her finger against her chin thoughtfully, "It sounds like a laughing pig!"

"That's ridiculous," Yuka replied, "Unless Hojo suddenly turned into a pig."

Giggling at the image, Eri grabbed at the vines that fell all the way down to the bottom of the well and began to hoist herself up. The other girls followed, exerting all the strength they had in their upper arms to pull themselves up. Ayumi almost didn't make it, but the others pulled her up once they had reached the top. Breathing heavily, the three girls clambered out of the well and stared at their surroundings.

"Where…are we?" Eri wondered in amazement. All around them they saw lush green leaves and swaying green grass beneath their feet. The well was not enclosed; instead it stood out in the open grass, slightly overgrown with vines and ivy.

'Wasn't the well house…just here?" Yuka muttered, turning this way and that as though expecting the well house to appear out of nowhere, "I don't get it."

"Wait," Ayumi suddenly interrupted her friends' musings, cupping a hand to her ear, "Listen."

And so they listened. Sure enough, in the distance, the girls could hear the same strange sounds they had heard when they had been in the well. Someone was yelling, a male voice that sounded oddly familiar, and there was that strange laughter again, like that of a pig. Suddenly they heard another voice, one that was indeed familiar.

"Inuyasha!"

The girls stared at each other and cried, "That's Kagome!"

Eager to see a familiar face, the three girls in their modern day school uniforms dashed blindly through the forest towards the sound of Kagome's voice. As they burst out of the bushes, they found themselves gazing upon a most impossible sight. It was a wonder they didn't faint at once.


	2. Chapter 2

**2.**

Kagome had expected a friendlier 'welcome back' than this. She'd hardly pulled herself out of the well and apologised to Inuyasha for being late, when storm clouds had suddenly engulfed the sky. Alarmed, they had raced back towards the village, only to be stopped as what appeared to be a twister tore through the clouds and hit the ground in front of them. Kagome shielded her eyes from the wind, and felt Inuyasha swing an arm protectively in front of her.

A strangely familiar gurgling sound reached her ears – that of laughter. When the wind died away and Kagome uncovered her eyes, she found herself gazing upon a most unwelcome visitor.

"Chokyukai!" Inuyasha snarled at the hideous pig demon, "I wondered when I'd see your ugly mug again! Come back for a beating, have you? I'm sorry I let you escape last time!"

Chokyukai was a wild boar demon who had once tried to get Kagome to marry him. He'd almost succeeded with his magical tiara, but had been thwarted by one of Miroku's Chinese sutras. Originally from the continent, Chokyukai had escaped back to his old homeland. Now, it seemed, he was back again. But why?

"I didn't come for you, dog!" Chokyukai retorted, laughing his snorting laugh as he clutched at his wobbling girth, "I came for my bride!"

"For the last time, I am not your bride!" Kagome yelled as she levelled an arrow at him, "And I suggest you leave!"

Kagome was not particularly pleased with _this_ demon. She stretched the bow string taught, ready to fire, only to be distracted by a familiar voice yelling her name. She glanced up to see Miroku, Sango and Shippo running towards her. Sango was wielding Hiraikotsu, ready to hurl it should the need arise, and Miroku had pulled out several wads of sutras. Shippo just looked flustered.

"Kagome!" Shippo called, "What's going on?"

The young miko shook her head and yelled, "Stay back, Shippo! We'll deal with him!"

Miroku's eyes had narrowed, "Chokyukai, what a surprise to see you back again. If you're lucky, I might have another sutra just for you."

But as Miroku fished inside his robe for another Chinese sutra, he realised with a jolt that he didn't have another one. Laughing nervously, the monk rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Guess I don't have one."

Sango rolled her eyes, "Get out of the way, then, Miroku. Let us deal with this weakling of a demon."

"I am not weak!" Chokyukai argued indignantly, flapping his arms wildly as though to prove his point. His two assistants, one a strange water demon and the other a small monkey demon, had barely moved from their position at his side. Kagome wondered if it was her imagination, but the little water demon looked even more cross-eyed than it had before.

"Yeah, yeah," Inuyasha smirked, unsheathing Tetsusaiga, "I've heard that before. This will be over in no time."

The half-demon raced passed Kagome and swung his sword violently at the pig demon. But Chokyukai was fast despite his large size, and easily parried the swing with his spear. For several moments, the pig demon and half-demon were locked blade to blade.

"I'm going to cut you into tiny pieces," Inuyasha snarled, Tetsusaiga trembling in his claws. But Chokyukai smirked right back.

"Try all you want, dog," he chuckled, snorting, and thrust his spear hard towards the half-demon. His strength was more than Inuyasha had expected, and he found himself thrown backwards by the attack. The half-demon skidded on the ground and struggled to get up.

"Inuyasha!" Shippo called, running forwards with the vague idea of helping. But the pig demon's eyes suddenly turned on the young fox.

"You!" Chokyukai roared as he noticed Shippo, "You're the one that tricked me last time! Well, I have just the repayment for you!"

The ugly pig demon levelled his spear at Shippo, and a purple orb of light began to grow on its tip. Kagome's eyes widened in alarm and she yelled to the young fox, "Run, Shippo! Get out of there!"

But Shippo was frozen to the spot in fear, his knees trembling as he gazed at the weapon aimed for his trembling body. Inuyasha pushed himself to his feet, grasping Tetsusaiga, and dashed towards Chokyukai.

"Not on my life!" Inuyasha roared, striking his sword down upon the spear. But something unexpected happened. Arcs of purple electricity rippled around the spear and suddenly Tetsusaiga was thrown backwards, torn forcefully from Inuyasha's hands. The half-demon fell backwards, shocked, as his sword went flying and slammed into the earth several feet away.

"Oh no, Tetsusaiga!" Miroku yelled, running towards the sword, only to see the small monkey demon had reached it before he had. With more strength than what his tiny body should have, the little demon heaved Tetsusaiga into the air and hurled it further away. It landed near the trees, almost out of sight.

Inuyasha struggled to his feet and, knowing there was no time to retrieve his sword, made a dash for Chokyukai with only his bare hands. But the pig demon saw him coming and swung his spear, still with the orb of violet light blooming on the end. The orb of light flew from the end of the spear and struck a nearby tree, incinerating it on the spot, while the blade of Chokyukai's spear made contact with Inuyasha's vulnerable mid-section. The half-demon gasped and froze as the blade cut into his flesh, drawing blood that bloomed over his already red robe.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shrieked, running forwards. But the half-demon had fallen backwards onto the ground and was now crouched, his hair obscuring his eyes. Suddenly Kagome skidded to a halt, feeling a strange jolt of negative energy. Chokyukai paused and stared as Inuyasha's body seemed to pulse.

"Oh no," Kagome whispered. She hadn't seen this happen for a long time. Inuyasha raised his head, but his eyes were no longer golden – they were blood red, even the whites. Jagged purple tattoos cut across either cheek.

"Not good," Sango yelped, backing up, "Kagome, get away from him!"

But Kagome was frozen to the spot, staring as Inuyasha's demon blood took over his whole body. He rushed blindly at Chokyukai, claws and fangs bared, but was struck again by the pig demon's spear and thrown backwards. His back hit a tree and he slid down to the ground, momentarily stunned. The wild boar demon turned his attention back to Shippo and fired another ball of violet light at the young fox. This time he closed his eyes and began to chant a strange spell in a language that Kagome wasn't entirely fluent in – Chinese. The orb shot towards Shippo, who couldn't move an inch, paralysed by fear, and Kagome made a split second decision

She dived for the fox demon, arms outstretched, trying to push him out of the way. But, though she managed to reach him in time, she couldn't avoid the orb of light that struck her midriff with violent force. Kagome squeaked as she fell face-first on the ground and Shippo tumbled away from her. The pig demon continued chanting, eyes squeezed shut as if remembering the lines was difficult, unfortunately not seeing that he was cursing his supposed 'bride.' His chanting suddenly switched to a language that the others understood.

"And you will remain in this way until you drink a concoction of thus!" Kagome was writhing on the ground as he chanted, "A silken hair from the lord of the west, a few drops of blood from the one you love best, a piece of fang from a beast the great dog fought, the claw of a warrior whose love came to naught, a cup of water from the ocean deep, and a soul from the wanderer denied from her sleep."

Kagome stoped writhing suddenly, only to be engulfed in forest green light. From amidst it they heard her scream, a scream of agonised pain. Her scream somehow reached the part of Inuyasha that was not blinded by his demon blood, and his eyes faded back to normal.

"Kagome!" The half-demon yelled, running towards her. As the light faded, a figure was revealed, but it was not Kagome. A golden-furred fox trembled on the ground, tangled in Kagome's clothes.

"WHAT?" The boar demon roared as he opened his eyes to see that he had cursed the wrong person, "That spell wasn't meant to hit you, my bride! Well then, I had better find a different bride. A shame… it doesn't look like our relationship is going to work out, my dear. I am terribly sorry. You must be heart broken!"

Chuckling to himself, the boar demon turned to leave, beckoning for his assistants to follow. But an enraged Inuyasha dashed towards his sword and hefted it into his hands. Chokyukai yelped in alarm as Inuyasha aimed a wind scar at his back. The boar demon could not escape as a bolt of energy ripped through the earth towards him and struck him dead on, effectively blowing him into oblivion.

"Inuyasha, you idiot!" Shippo yelled at him, now at the strange fox's side, "Now we can't ask about what he did to Kagome!"

"He can't help! Don't you know anything about demon curses?" Inuyasha snapped back and struck the young fox demon on the head.

The golden-furred fox, having fainted from the pain, had only just awoken. Upon seeing Inuyasha strike Shippo, she attempted to yell 'sit!' but to her surprise only managed to produce a small yip. It worked regardless and Inuyasha hit ground, fast.

"Kagome, you're awake!" Shippo rushed over to the fox tangled in Kagome's clothing, "Are you okay?"

"Wha – What happened?" Kagome mumbled, unaware that only Shippo could understand her words.

She had a throbbing headache. Wincing, she attempted to raise her hand to her head, but realised she was still tangled in her own clothes. Not to mention her hand felt odd, like it wasn't a hand at all, and didn't seem to be able to move like a hand should. As she pulled her hand away from the tangle of clothes, she saw something both unusual and rather disturbing. She had a paw – no, two paws – both covered with shimmering golden fur. Kagome shrieked and tried to scramble away, but only ended up more tangled in her own clothes.

"Shh, Kagome, shhh," Shippo cooed reassuringly, patting her head a little awkwardly, "Inuyasha says he knows what to do."

Taking deep breaths, Kagome began to calm down. She closed her eyes and opened them again, hoping that the paws would disappear and she'd have hands again. But they were still there when she opened her eyes, much to her dismay.

"Shippo, what happened?" Kagome asked as she wormed her way out of her cloths. Her legs wobbled beneath her and she almost fell, but managed to keep her balance. Everything felt strangely awkward now, and Kagome felt exceedingly clumsy on all fours.

"The pig's curse hit you instead," Shippo mumbled, looking sheepish, "Remember? When you pushed me aside?"

"Oh," Kagome sighed, staring at her new paws, "Right."

She looked up at her friends, who were staring at her with identical shocked expressions, and noticed that Inuyasha had turned away. The muscles along his back and shoulders were tensed, as though for trouble. Scowling, the half-demon began to stalk towards the bushes.

"Inuyasha, where are you going?" Kagome yelped, a little offended that he was leaving her like this. She felt vulnerable enough without him leaving.

Inuyasha turned to look at her, his eyebrow raised questioningly as though he didn't understand. Kagome tried again to ask him where he was going and why, but he only looked more confused. What was wrong with him?

"I… don't know what you're saying," the half-demon sighed guiltily at last. In fact, all he could hear was yips and whines, and he understood none of it.

Shippo glanced from Kagome's dismayed expression to Inuyasha's guilty face and said, "She asked where you were going."

"You can understand her?" exclaimed Sango, her face relaxing in slight relief, "Thank goodness someone can."

The demon slayer then noticed where Miroku had positioned his hand, and gave him a good whack over the head with her boomerang-esk weapon.

"I heard someone spying," Inuyasha said to Kagome, ignoring Miroku's loud 'ow!', "and who knows what Naraku would do if he found out about this."

Kagome's eyes widened in realization and she nodded quickly in agreement. She felt so vulnerable in this form, and the thought that Naraku could be spying made her tremble in her fur. Tensed, she watched as Inuyasha stalked towards the bushes.


	3. Chapter 3

**3.**

Needless to say, Kagome's modern day friends were stunned with horror. Yuka, Ayumi and Eri had watched almost the whole thing from the bushes. Panic had washed over them upon seeing Inuyasha, the white haired boy they had met not long ago, seemingly becoming mad with rage. His eyes had gone blood red, something that none of them had ever seen before, and he had uttered a noise like a being possessed of the devil. There was only one word to describe him then – demonic.

"Wh-what's going on?" Eri trembled, frozen to the spot, "Wh-what is that thing?"

She had pointed a trembling finger at what appeared to be a huge pig wearing a robe and wielding a spear. It was like something out of science fiction, and definitely not something that any of the girls had expected to see in real life.

"It…must be a costume," Yuka answered, a noticeable tremble in her voice, "They must be…rehearsing a play!"

"That's Inuyasha, right?" Ayumi whimpered, her knees shaking, "What's wrong with him?"

The three girls uttered identical squeaks of fear as the half-demon was thrown into a tree. But the biggest horror yet came when they watched Kagome leap in the path of whatever it was that the strange pig fired from the end of his spear. It struck her dead on and she collapsed, much to her friends' horror. As a green light engulfed Kagome, Eri suddenly panicked.

With a yelp like a wounded dog, she turned on her heel and made to dash back towards the well. But her feet slipped on a raised tree root and she went crashing to the ground with a squeal. She didn't get up again, but her two friends were too focused on the scene in front of them to notice that she had fainted.

The green light faded, and in Kagome's place was a golden-brown fox tangled in Kagome's school clothes. Ayumi turned as pale as death and crumbled to the ground without a sound, collapsing in a dead faint. Yuka gulped as she stared at the scene.

"This has to be a dream," she whispered, clenching her fists so that her nails dug into her palm, "A dream! I'm dreaming! Just…just dreaming!"

She screwed her eyes shut, waited for a few moments, and then opened them again. But the scene was still there, and now Inuyasha was stalking towards her hiding place in the bushes. Yuka trembled.

"I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming," she chanted, pinching her arm hard in an attempt to wake herself up. It hurt, but it changed nothing.

As Inuyasha approached them, he stopped and stared. He had expected to see Kanna or Kagura at the least, not this. The girl that stared at him was familiar, and wearing exactly the same school clothes that Kagome always wore. If Inuyasha remembered correctly, her name was Yuka. The one fainted on the ground next to her was Ayumi, and the one crumpled a few feet away was Eri. But how could they be here?

"But, you're from Kagome's time!" the half-demon stared, wide eyed in disbelief, "How the hell did you get here?"

Yuka had gone very white, "Wha-, what do you mean… Kagome's time? I'm…I'm dreaming, right?"

Inuyasha looked at her like she was insane. She certainly appeared insane, standing there insisting she was dreaming. She stared at him, her face pale. His ears twitched. Her eyes flew upwards and she stared at the little dog ears poking out of his white hair. Yuka's jaw dropped and, on instinct, she reached up to touch them. Inuyasha froze, stunned, when she suddenly grabbed his ears.

"Hey!" he snapped, pushing her away angrily, "Dammit! Why do people from Kagome's time always grab my damn ears?"

Yuka froze, shocked at his swearing. She instantly clasped her hands together and drew them back to her chest, trembling as she stared at the annoyed Inuyasha. Hearing Inuyasha's shout, Kagome hurried to get to him. Trying not to trip over her newly acquired paws, she didn't notice that her tail was dragging in the dirt. Shippo hopped after her, with Miroku and Sango following behind.

Kagome expected to see trouble, but what she saw was not what she expected. Upon seeing her friends, two of them still fainted on the ground, she yelped something that Inuyasha vaguely assumed was a minor curse word.

"How did they get here!" Kagome shrieked, but her words only came out as a few startled yelps. Inuyasha looked expectantly at Shippo.

"She asked how they got here," The young fox demon translated quickly.

Inuyasha scowled and turned to glare at Yuka, "Don't ask me, I thought only Kagome and me could get through the well."

"Kagome and I," Kagome corrected automatically, feeling a little irritable as her headache had still not gone away.

Inuyasha, not knowing what she had said, looked at Shippo, "well? What did she say?"

"She was correcting your grammar," Shippo told him, stifling a giggle but unable to hide the grin. The half-demon scowled.

"Is this the time?" he snapped at the golden fox that was Kagome.

"Why not? You don't seem to be getting anywhere right now, either on this curse or why _they_," – she jerked her head at Yuka – "are here! So I might as well correct your grammar!"

Being turned into a fox so suddenly had left Kagome feeling a little vulnerable, and that made her irritable. To see her friends here, friends from her own time, only served to worry and confuse her, worsening her mood. How could they have come here? Only _she _could use the well!

"She basically said to either work on fixing the curse, or finding out why and how they're here," Shippo translated, gesturing at Yuka. Only he noticed Kagome's annoyance, but he chose to say nothing about it.

"Basically?" the half-demon raised an eyebrow and glanced at Kagome. Maybe it was his imagination, but she seemed to be glaring at him.

"Your ears are fake, right?" Yuka cut in, still staring at his little white dog ears. She was convinced she was dreaming, but she couldn't help being interested by those ears.

"NO! My ears are bloody well not fake!" yelled the irritable half-demon. Yuka shrank away, scared by his anger.

"Inuyasha…" Kagome snarled warningly. The half-demon glanced at her nervously. Though he didn't understand her words, the growl in her voice was a clear warning of a plethora of 'sits.'

A bead of sweat formed on Inuyasha's forehead, "Sorry, Kagome."

Kagome sighed heftily and stared at her furry paws, "Let's just get them to Kaede's hut. Maybe they can tell us what happened."

After Shippo's hurried translation, Inuyasha agreed with Kagome's suggestion. It took longer than expected to get back to the village and the hut where Kaede lived. The two fainted girls were easy enough to deal with – Kirara merely carried them upon her back – but Yuka was making things difficult. Looking dazed and frightened, she kept pulling away whenever Inuyasha and the others tried to guide her towards the village.

"What is _that_?" Yuka squeaked, when Kirara transformed into her larger demon form, "Is that a _lion_? It has fangs!"

Sango smiled reassuringly, "That's just Kirara. She's a demon cat, but don't worry, she's friendly."

And when Yuka refused to follow the strange group, Inuyasha had to forcibly drag her after them. She kept struggling and demanding to know what had happened to Kagome, despite Shippo's attempts to tell her that the fox next to her was actually Kagome.

"Did you hide her somewhere?" Yuka asked angrily, trying to tug her wrist out of Inuyasha's grasp, "What have you done with her? She was just here! I know you've done something with her!"

"_I'm_ Kagome!" the young miko-turned-fox insisted, although her words only came out as pitiful whines. Shippo tried translating, but Yuka didn't seem to listen. She seemed focused on making Inuyasha talk – probably because he was the only one she recognised.

"Tell me where she is! I thought you were nice when I met you, but Kagome's always complaining about you!" Yuka struggled against his grip to no avail.

'_Kagome complains about me?_' the half demon wonder before turning around and snapping, "Would you shut up already! You're getting on my nerves!"

Frightened into silence, Yuka remained mute for the rest of the trip back to the village. But Kagome did hear her say one thing before they reached the hut.

"This is the strangest dream ever."

"So you say you three came through the Bone Eater's Well?" Kaede asked.

The group was sitting together in old Kaede's hut, listening to the three girls tell their story. Eri and Ayumi had already woken up and, after a lot of confusion, had finally stopped panicking. Now settled with cups of tea in their hands, the three girls had told the group everything from when they had entered Kagome's shrine, to when they had clambered out of the well and ended up here.

"But that's impossible," Inuyasha insisted, "Only me and Kagome can get through the well. Right, Kaede?"

The aged woman nodded slowly, "yes, we thought that was the case. It is strange that these three managed to get through. Clearly they don't have priestess powers like Kagome."

Ayumi blinked, "Kagome has priestess powers?"

"What are priestess powers?" Yuka and Eri chimed together. Kaede sighed.

"Yes, yes, we'll get to that. You say the well sucked you in?"

"That's right," Eri nodded quickly, "We were looking for Kagome because she disappeared into the well house, and suddenly this huge wind just sucked us into the well."

"Hmm," Kaede grunted, her brow furrowed as she thought, "This is most unusual."

While everyone else was pondering the mystery, the three school girls were looking around the hut with curious expressions. Eri wondered why there was a golden-furred fox staring at her.

"Where's Kagome, anyway?" she asked, still looking around, "We saw her when we climbed out of the well, I'm sure we did."

"I told you, _I'm_ Kagome!" the young miko tried to say, but it only came out as barks and whines. Annoyed, she glared at the floorboards.

Shippo looked exasperated, "That's what we've been trying to tell you! _She's_ Kagome!"

The young fox demon pointed dramatically at the golden-furred fox, and the three school girls stared at him and the fox. Ayumi crawled over to them, her eyes curious. The golden-brown fox stared back at her.

"You mean to say that that _fox_ is Kagome?" Eri asked incredulously.

"No, we mean to say that Kagome went to pick cherry blossoms," Inuyasha snapped sarcastically. Eri, Yuka and Ayumi edged farther away from the half demon, fearfully.

"You're not helping, Inuyasha," the golden fox snapped, glaring at the half-demon harshly.

After Shippo translated Inuyasha snapped, "Neither are they!"

"Well, I suggest we do something!" Kagome snapped back, almost forgetting that Shippo had to translate for her. She was starting to get irritated. Being in this form wasn't the most pleasant of experiences. She felt small and insignificant.

Shippo was having a hard time keeping up with Kagome, but he managed. Barely.

"What the hell do you expect me to do!" Inuyasha snarled, after Shippo translated as best he could.

"I don't know! _Something_!"

"Like?"

"You want a suggestion?" Kagome yelled, and Shippo trembled when he translated. He knew what was coming.

"Yes!" Inuyasha roared, and Shippo winced as he heard Kagome yell the magic word.

"Sit!"

The modern trio stared as Inuyasha smacked face first in the ground, as though some unknown force had just flattened him. Inuyasha growled and pushed himself onto hands and knees, shooting the golden fox a dirty look. Sango sighed as the half demon egged Kagome on further.

"That's helpful!" He snarled sarcastically. The golden-furred fox leapt to her feet.

"Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit! SIT BOY!" She screamed. Shippo didn't have to translate for her this time. Only the modern trio had no idea what was going on as Inuyasha was repeatedly slammed face-first into the floor of the hut. The fox twirled around in a rage and exited the hut, tail lashing.

"Now see what you did, Inuyasha!" Shippo scolded to a flattened and twitching Inuyasha, while the modern trio stared in shocked bemusement.


	4. Chapter 4

**4.**

Kagome stumbled towards the Bone-Eaters Well, tripping repeatedly over her own paws. She went that way merely out of habit, despite knowing perfectly well that she couldn't go home now. Upon realising that, she abruptly changed direction and headed instead into the forest. Preoccupied with bitter thoughts, she didn't realize how far she was straying away from the village. The trees enclosed around her small form, seeming larger than ever.

Kagome didn't notice the wolf until she was about a foot away from it. It was the smoke from the campfire that made her raise her head and realise she had come quite a ways into the forest. A scene was laid out before her, and she stopped dead in her tracks when she realise she was barely inches away from the startled wolf. It seemed to be stunned that she had meandered so close to it without noticing. Maybe that was why it hadn't eaten her yet.

Gulping, Kagome turned her gaze towards the campfire and was almost relieved. Koga and his two pack mates sat beside a fire, chatting quietly. The wolf demon had leant his back against a tree and was muttering something about mutts and a bag of chips. Kagome sighed with relief. These were Koga's wolves. They wouldn't eat her! But she hadn't reckoned with her new form.

One of the wolves barked something to Koga, who glanced at them with a bored expression. His eyes fell on the golden fox, but he didn't notice her pleading eyes. All he saw was a fox frozen to the spot in fear. It wouldn't make a bad meal for his wolves. After all, they hadn't eaten for several days now.

"Help yourselves," Koga said dismissively, turning back to the fire, completely unaware of the fox's true identity. Kagome felt her heart plummet into her stomach as realisation hit her hard.

'_He doesn't know it's me…_' she thought, eyes wide and terrified, '_Oh no!_'

Kagome backed up nervously, stumbling over her paws as the wolves stalked closer. They were a whole lot bigger now that she was in this form, and she couldn't take her eyes of their large fangs. Saliva dripped from their snarling jaws. Kagome whimpered and turned to run, but found she could not. The wolves had trapped her between them and a large boulder.

'_Great,_' she thought, her small body trembling, '_caught between a rock and ten sets of teeth!_'

Fear ate at her insides, and she screamed the name of the half-demon she'd left back in the village. He always came to save her – always!

"_Inuyasha_!"

Her scream came out as a loud, long yelp, and she prayed that someone – anyone! – would hear her. Inuyasha or Shippo or even Koga – someone had to save her from this fate! And as the wolves edged closer, saliva dripping from their eager jaws, she heard a voice reach her from within the trees.

"Kagome! Where are you? Keep yelling!" Inuyasha roared, crashing through the forest.

'_He must have followed me!_' Kagome realized, relief washing over her.

"Inuyasha!" she screamed again, and this time she heard Shippo's voice.

"I can hear her!" the young fox demon was yelling, "That way! Quickly!"

"I'm coming, Kagome!" Inuyasha sure made a lot of noise when he was in a hurry. It sounded like a herd of rhinoceros were crashing towards her.

Kagome turned her eyes back to the wolves in time to see one leap at her, claws outstretched. She froze and a scream tore itself from her throat, echoing in her ears as the terrified yelp of a fox. Suddenly the bushes to her right seemed to explode as something red came flying out of them, crashing into the wolf that had leapt towards her. The wolf yelped in pain as it was thrown to the side.

"Back off, you mangy wolves!" Inuyasha growled, landed cat-like in front of the trembling golden fox. The wolves snarled back, backing up warily.

"You ok, Kagome?" the half-demon asked, glancing briefly back at her. She nodded, and he turned back to the wolves, "If you even _try _to eat her, I'm going to tear all of you limb from limb! So get lost!"

Inuyasha kicked out at the nearest wolf, and it scrambled away with a yelp. Shippo had finally caught up and hurried to Kagome's side, standing in front of her protectively. All of a sudden the wolves stopped growling and stood to the side as their leader approached from behind. Koga glared hatefully at the half-demon.

"Oi, mutt, what do you think you're doing messing with my wolves?" the wolf-demon snapped, folding his arms over his chest.

"_Your _wolves?" Inuyasha asked incredulously, and then scowled angrily, "So you're the one who let these mangy wolves attack Kagome! I always knew you were -!"

But Koga interrupted him with a bemused expression, "Kagome? What are you talking about, you idiot mutt? I'd never let my wolves harm Kagome!"

"Oh yeah? Then how do you explain this?" Inuyasha snapped back, gesturing violently at Shippo and the trembling golden fox.

Koga raised a bemused eyebrow, "What? It's just a stupid fox. What the heck has a fox got to do with Kagome?"

Inuyasha's eyebrow twitched and he roared, "That _is_ Kagome!"

Koga stared for a few moments, eyes wide and shocked, before he started to laugh. Inuyasha grit his teeth and clenched his fists until his claws almost dug into his palms. Koga was getting on his last nerve. At last the wolf-demon stopped laughing long enough to say, "I think you've finally lost it, mutt! There's no way that fox could be Kago-!"

"She is." Every eye turned on Shippo, who had spoken. The young fox demon was staring solemnly at Koga, his green eyes unusually serious. Koga faltered slightly.

The golden-furred fox stepped forwards and said something, but all that came out was barks and yips. Koga stared, as did Inuyasha and the group of wolves.

"She said that she is Kagome, and that you need to believe her," Shippo translated. Koga stared from him to the golden fox.

'So…wait…you're saying this fox is…Kagome?" the wolf-demon seemed to be having a hard time grasping the concept.

"Yes."

"And you can…understand her?"

Again, Shippo nodded. For a moment Koga was frozen in stunned silence. Then, he suddenly exploded. He lurched forwards and grabbed the front of Inuyasha's robe, pulling the half-demon threateningly close to his face.

"How the _HELL_ did this happen?"

"…and that's what happened," Shippo concluded, sitting back and folding his arms.

After a lot of yelling, death threats and fisticuffs between Inuyasha and Koga, the group had finally settled down to explain what had happened. Koga refused to hear it from anyone other than Kagome, which meant Shippo had to translate. It was a slow process, but at least it kept the two hard-headed demons from beating each other up over it.

"I don't believe this," Koga groaned, holding a hand to his forehead, "_How _could you let this happen, mutt?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Inuyasha snarled defensively, "I-!"

"You let that weakling of a demon do this to Kagome, don't try to pretend you didn't!" Koga yelled, cutting him off and jumping to his feet, "Now look at her! You're lucky she's still alive or I'd have -!"

"You're lucky I managed to save her from your wolves, idiot!" Inuyasha yelled, repaying the favour by cutting Koga off in the middle of his sentence, "Or I'd have killed _you_!"

"Don't try to blame this on me!" Koga snarled, clenching his fists, "You're the reason she's like this, you mangy mutt!"

"And you're only making this worse, you pathetic wolf!"

"Alright, alright, that's enough!" Kagome snapped, and Shippo quickly translated her words into a language that could be understood by the two angry demons.

"It's never enough for this wimpy wolf," Inuyasha snapped, and Koga bared his teeth in a snarl.

Exasperated and looking for a way to interrupt them, Kagome did the only thing she could, "Sit boy!"

When Inuyasha was safely incapacitated, Kagome and Shippo suggested to Koga that they head back to the village. There was a lot that needed to be sorted out, and Koga's help could be useful. Thankfully, the wolf demon agreed easily. He'd do anything for Kagome, whether she was a human or a fox.

"Just let me get Ginta and Hakkaku and we'll be right with you," Koga promised, winking at the fox that was Kagome, before dashing back into the bushes.

Kagome smiled as best she could, "Well, at least he's being helpful. Unlike someone _else_."

She glared at Inuyasha, who was still twitching face-down in the dirt. He hadn't understood a word of what she had just said, but a part of him already knew.

"Don't bother translating, Shippo," the half-demon grunted bitterly, pushing himself onto all fours, "I don't wanna know."

"You're right," the young fox demon agreed, "you don't."

When they finally got everyone into Kaede's hut, with as few death threats as possible, at sat down together in a loose circle. Eri, Yuka and Ayumi stared at Koga, bemused by his appearance. Koga stared right back, equally as bemused.

"Great, another person with a tail," Eri mutter, with the slightest hint of sarcasm.

"I'm a demon!" Koga snapped back with evident dislike, staring at these strange humans.

'_I have to warn them about demon pride,'_ thought Kagome anxiously,'_if they insult Sesshomaru somehow..._'

"Who is this?" Ayumi asked, staring at the wolf demon and wrinkling her nose slightly.

'_You'd think they'd learn to be wary of demons,'_ Kagome sighed to herself,_ 'it's like, seeing Chokyukai the minute they got here did nothing!'_

"Um, Shippo?" Kagome asked, almost irritably, "Can you try and get things going before someone gets themselves killed?"

"Uhh...wha-? ...Oh ok," Shippo sighed, tiredly rubbing his eyes. It was indeed getting late, and if he didn't need to translate Kagome would have sent him to bed long ago.

"Kagome says we should get going before Koga gets too mad at them."

Koga glared at Shippo, "I would never hurt innocent mortals!"

"Like hell you wouldn't!" scoffed Inuyasha, "Your group of mangy wolves has eaten how many exactly?"

Koga clenched his fists, "We're not like that anymore!"

"Only because of Kagome!" Inuyasha snapped, his golden eyes glaring a challenge at the angry wolf demon, "When she finally ditches you, you're gonna go right back to how you were, I just know it!"

"Kagome…" Koga stood up, clenching his teeth, "will not!"

"So," Inuyasha snorted, "you wouldn't start again mangy wolf? You wouldn't go back to _eating_ people?"

"That's not your place to ask, mutt!" Koga snarled.

Inuyasha stood up glaring, "Let's do this, feral!"

Koga hit one fist into his other palm, "Outside then, you mangy mutt!"

"Fine by me! Wouldn't wanna destroy the old hag's house!" Inuyasha yelled back, the volume of his voice rising higher and higher.

Still snarling at each other, the two went outside with Kagome following, yelping something irritable that only Shippo could understand. The young fox demon sighed.

"I do believe they are becoming slightly more controlled," Miroku sighed, "At least they removed themselves. That would be the first time they bothered."

The monk sent the girls a sidelong look, "Which reminds me…"

He had barely stood up before Sango struck him over the head with her weapon, slapped him on the cheek, and grabbed his ear. "Excuse us," she said to the girls, while she dragged him outside.

As the girls stared, Shippo sighed and stage-whispered to Kirara, "I've said it before and I'll say it again – you're the most sensible one of all of us."

Kirara meowed in agreement and glared at the door pointedly.

"Wait! Did Inuyasha say Koga's a cannibal?" yelped Yuka, suddenly realising what the half-demon had been saying.

"Well, he's a demon, not a human…so, no," Sango had answered, after returning from outside with no Miroku in sight, "A cannibal eats its own species."

"He looks human to me!" Eri yelped, her eyes wide.

"Except for the tail," added Ayumi thoughtfully. The other two girls stared at her.

"You do realise they said he eats people?" Yuka asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not anymore," Shippo yawned, holding a hand in front of his mouth. He was tired.

"But he _used _to?" When no one answered her, Eri sighed and muttered, "I'm starting to think I don't like this place. And I still don't get what's going on!"

Sango smiled sympathetically, "You should get some rest. Maybe things will make more sense in the morning."

"Yeah right," Yuka muttered under her breath, but lay down anyway on the hard ground. It wasn't at all like her nice soft bed back home, but she was too tired and confused to care.

They fell asleep listening to the sounds of muffled shouting as Inuyasha and Koga beat the living daylights out of each other. Just before she fell asleep, Eri found herself hoping that, by the time she woke up, everything thing would be back to normal and she would be back home in her bed. But it was not to be.


	5. Chapter 5

**5.**

"So, let me get this straight," Eri took a deep breath, "You're a demon, he's a demon, he's a monk, Kagome's a _fox_, and we're currently 500 years in the past?"

Shippo nodded, "That about sums it up."

The school-girl sank to her knees, her legs suddenly feeling very weak. She stared at the little fox demon and could only whisper, "Oh."

The morning had brought with it very little comfort for the three school girls. It turned out they were still here in this strange place full of demons and men with tails, a place 500 years back from the world they were used to – and Kagome had apparently been turned into a fox. For Yuka, Eri and Ayumi, that was a whole lot to take in at once. But they had no choice but to believe it.

"So…now what?" Yuka asked weakly, looking from Shippo to Inuyasha to Koga and finally settling her eyes on the little golden fox that was apparently Kagome. The fox yelped something.

"We need to get you home," Shippo translated, "according to Kagome. She says you should go back the same way you came."

"Through the well?" Ayumi asked curiously.

The golden Kagome-fox nodded. Inuyasha stood up suddenly, his hands folded into the wide red sleeves of his robe. Koga also stood up, perhaps not wanting to feel small in the half-demon's shadow.

"Well, let's go then," Inuyasha said, and strode out of the hut. Shrugging at each other, the schoolgirl trio followed him with the rest of the group following behind.

They eventually crowded around the well and Koga, who had never actually seen the well before, stared at it curiously. The wolf demon prodded the side of the well with his foot dubiously and turned to look at the golden-furred fox.

"You say this is the way to your world, Kagome?"

The fox nodded and Koga shrugged. The three modern girls were staring anxiously at the well, and Inuyasha glared impatiently at them.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he growled, "Go through!"

"Uh…" Yuka whimpered timidly, "In there?"

She stared into the dark depths of the well. It was almost impossible to see the bottom in the darkness. Ayumi and Eri looked over her shoulders, equally as timid and dubious. Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"Well, that's how you got here! So get down there!" he glared at them, and they realised they had no choice.

"O-okay…" Eri gulped and placed her hands on the edge of the well, "I'll…go first."

Taking a deep breath, Eri glanced once at her friends before jumping into the well. Yuka and Ayumi gasped as she disappeared into the darkness. Seconds later there was a dull thud and a timid 'ow'. The group exchanged surprised glances.

"Eri…?" Yuka called into the well.

"I'm ok," Eri's voice floated back to her, "I hit the bottom."

Inuyasha blinked, bemused, "What the heck? You mean it didn't work?"

Obviously it hadn't because, seconds later, Eri clambered back out of the well looking a little worse for wear. She brushed her dirty palms on her skirt and glanced around at everyone's stunned expressions.

"Did I…do something wrong?" she asked anxiously.

Kagome stared at her friend and asked something that Shippo quickly translated.

"Kagome wants to know what happened when you fell into the well before," the fox demon said quickly.

"Well," Yuka tapped her chin thoughtfully and answered, "We fell into the well, but we didn't hit the bottom. Instead we sort of started…floating. And there were little lights ever – like fireflies! And then, we were at the bottom of the well again. But…here…"

Kagome frowned. What Yuka had just described was what happened to her whenever she passed backwards and forwards through the well. It had worked for them before, so why wasn't it working for them now? Was something blocking the well?

"Inuyasha," Kagome yipped, turning her eyes on him, "Can you get through the well?"

Shippo translated and the half-demon stared at her. Shrugging, he strode over to the well and leapt into it, disappearing without a word. Moments passed and Miroku peered into the darkness of the well. When he called Inuyasha's name, no one answered. A minute passed and a brief scrabbling sound was heard in the well before Inuyasha clambered out.

"I got through fine," the half-demon stated, rolling his shoulders.

The three schoolgirls exchanged glances, "So then…why can't we?"

"Hmm," Kagome murmured thoughtfully, her voice coming out as a low growl, "Maybe you got through by some fluke. But now it's fixed itself somehow… Wait Shippo! Don't translate that! It's not going to help anything – it's just going to freak them out more than they already are."

Shippo hesitated, the translated words already halfway to his mouth. He shook it off and murmured instead, "Okay Kagome."

"Okay to what?" demanded Inuyasha irately.

"None of your business," Shippo snapped, to the half-demon's annoyance.

Kagome sighed. That comment of Shippo's didn't exactly help matters. She could see Inuyasha fuming from here.

"Anyway, tell them we'll try later," she said to the fox demon, "Maybe we should try and work on this curse. I think I remember what Chokyukai said the antidote was. Let's go back to Kaede's and think."

The others agreed and, as they trudged back, Kagome worried about her modern day friends. '_They'll last about ten minutes if we leave them alone! What if they insult Sesshomaru? Well, let's hope we don't run into him any time soon…_'

Kagome continued to fret as they approached Kaede's. The others didn't notice, but Shippo certainly did. He stared at her worriedly, maybe more in tune to fox expressions then the others were.

When they reached the village they came across Koga's wolves lounging near the outskirts. Kagome took one glance and began to shake uncontrollably at the sight of them. She pressed unconsciously closer to Inuyasha. He looked at her trembling form in surprise.

"Kagome?" he asked quietly, "You okay?"

"I-I don't know what's wrong with me…" she stammered, but only Shippo heard what she said.

Choosing to ignore the strange fear as well as she could, Kagome straitened up and took a deep breath. Though her fur seemed to have puffed up to about twice its size, she walked proudly and calmly past the wolves, doing her best not to steal glances at their lounging forms. Their eyes watched her pass, but they made no move to get up.

Ginta and Hakkaku were sitting against a tree a little ways away. Upon seeing the group return, they waved and hurried over. The first thing Ginta did was look around and ask, "Where's Kagome?"

The golden-furred fox yipped something in annoyance, and Ginta blushed sheepishly. He and Hakkaku still had trouble remembering that she'd been turned into a fox. Koga rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Come on, you idiots," he sighed, clapping them both on the shoulder and steering them towards the village, "Let's just get inside and try to figure this out."

Leaving the wolves to lounge around outside, the mismatched group headed back into Kaede's hut. Kaede looked up as they entered and set aside the mortar and pestle with which she'd been using to grind up herbs. Inuyasha sat down opposite her, and everyone else milled around him.

"I see you have returned," Kaede's eyes strayed to the modern trio of schoolgirls, "Even you."

Yuka giggled nervously, a bead of sweat forming on her head, "Aha…yeah…turns out we couldn't get through the well!"

"Hmm," Kaede's grizzled face crumpled into a frown, "That is troubling. So, now what needs to be done?"

"We need to get Kagome changed back into her real form!" Inuyasha stated determinedly, slamming one fist into the wooden floor.

Kaede turned to look at him, "And how are you going to do that?"

The half-demon hesitated, "uh…"

Ignoring this conversation, Kagome was already thinking about the solution. Despite having fainted during the spell which had turned her into a fox, she could still recall Chokyukai's words. She wasn't sure if she had actually heard them, but somehow they seemed to be imprinted in her mind – as though she was reading them written in a text book.

"A silken hair of the lord of the west, a few drops of blood from the one you love best, a piece of fang from a beast the great dog fought, the claw of a warrior whose love came to naught, a cup of water from the ocean deep, and a soul from the wanderer denied from her sleep," Kagome mumbled to herself, unaware that Shippo was staring at her, bemused.

"What was that, Kagome?" the little fox demon asked, staring at her as though she was going insane. Kagome jumped, surprised that he had been listening.

"The poem…" she mumbled, "The chant that Chokyukai was saying when he turned me into a fox. It's the antidote, it has to be!"

"And you shall remain as you are until you drink a concoction of thus…" Kagome whispered to herself, and wrinkled her furry muzzle. She didn't fancy drinking anything with blood in it – let alone sea water.

Shippo stared. Kagome turned to him, her eyes glowing with excitement.

"It must be the antidote! Shippo, tell them!"

The little fox demon hesitated, "Uh…what was it again."

Sighing, Kagome slowly repeated it to him. When he was sure he had it memorised, Shippo nodded and turned to get the attention of everyone in the room. He jumped onto Inuyasha's shoulder for a better perch.

"Listen up everyone! Kagome knows what the antidote is!" every eye turned on the young fox demon, "She has to drink a potion made out of this!"

Shippo took a deep breath and recited the poem that Kagome had repeated to him. When he was finished, everyone was staring at him. Inuyasha looked completely bemused and more than a little dubious. He plucked the little fox demon off his shoulder and held him up to his face, scowling.

"Is that really what she said?"

Shippo glared back at him, wriggling in his grasp, "Yes! She said that's what Chokyukai was chanting when he cursed her!"

"Hmph, fine," Inuyasha looked around, "So…what does it mean?"

Kagome groaned. This was going to take a while. After telling Shippo to tell the others that they were going to break it down line by line, Kagome began to repeat the first line to herself.

"A silken hair from the Lord of the West…" she frowned, and heard Shippo repeat the line with her.

Inuyasha stared blankly at the fox demon, "Lord of the West? You don't mean…?"

The half-demon groaned and held a hand to his head. Sango glanced at Miroku, confused by Inuyasha's reaction.

"What his problem?" the demon-slayer asked curiously, and Miroku took a deep breath.

"Well, you know who rules the lands to the West don't you?" the monk had his eyes closed, but cracked one open to glance at Sango, "That's where Inuyasha's brother comes from."

Sango's eyes widened considerably, "You mean Sesshomaru? But how are we supposed to get a hair from him?"

Ayumi, Yuka and Eri exchanged glances and chimed together, "Who's Sesshomaru?"

But no one answered. Inuyasha punched the floor again.

"Well, one hair shouldn't be too hard," the half-demon grunted, "I'll tear a whole bunch out if I have to!"

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Miroku replied, exchanging an anxious glance with Sango.

"So what's the next line?" Inuyasha looked to Shippo.

The fox demon was about to answer, but a shrill yelp from Kagome cut him off before he could utter a word. He stared at her, listened to what she said, and then nodded wisely. She had a point. Inuyasha was staring from one to the other as though trying to figure out what was being said. He hated being left in the dark.

"Kagome says she has an idea for one of the lines," Shippo finally revealed, "A cup of water from the ocean deep. We need water from the sea!"

"The sea?" Inuyasha wrinkled his nose, "But that's miles away!"

"That's why the fastest amongst us should go get it," Kagome growled, and Shippo quickly translated.

As she had expected, Koga was instantly on his feet at those words. He grinned dashingly at the golden-furred fox and knelt down in front of her.

"Don't worry, Kagome, I'll get that sea water for you. You'll be back to your beautiful self in no time, I promise you that!" the wolf demon grinned and reached for Kagome's newly-acquired paws, but Inuyasha quickly stationed himself between them.

"Alright, get going you mangy wolf!" the half-demon snapped, "The sooner you leave, the sooner we can change Kagome back! So get lost!"

"Watch who you're talking to!" Koga snarled, but he stood up anyway and nodded to everyone, "I'll be the one to go get that sea water. Don't worry, I'll be back soon enough."

As Ginta and Hakkaku moved to stand up, the young wolf leader shook his head.

"Ginta, Hakkaku, you stay here," he told them, to their surprise, "You'll only slow me down. See ya 'round!"

The two wolf demons barely had time to argue before Koga had dashed out the door with a jaunty wave. He was gone in an instant, leaving the rest of them a little stunned by his sudden departure. But when it came to Kagome, Koga would do anything. Kagome was a little relieved at Koga's departure, and a bit surprised he had left so easily.

She continued thinking of the poem; one line in particular had caught her attention and she mumbled it aloud, "A soul from the wanderer denied from her sleep."

Shippo looked at Kagome, "Please say you're kidding?"

"Nope," she replied dryly.

"And I thought Sesshomaru was bad," the fox demon muttered darkly.

"What's wrong, Shippo?" Miroku asked anxiously, and the little fox demon turned to face him.

"One of the lines is…" Shippo hesitated briefly and then spat it out, "A soul from the wanderer denied from her sleep."

Realization hit the feudal gang then. Miroku and Sango both glanced at Inuyasha furtively, but he was staring blankly at the ground. Even Kirara bristled and growled quietly, as though sensing the tension. The modern girls looked at each other, lost as Kagome's tail lashed anxiously across the floor.

Silence reigned for a moment, and then Inuyasha muttered, "Kikyo."

"Who's Kikyo?" Yuka asked bluntly, raising her voice, annoyed by the lack of explanations. She, along with Eri and Ayumi, was at a total loss about what was going on and what was being said.

Pain flashed across Inuyasha's face and he sped out of the hut, unwilling to listen to Kikyo's story once again. A concerned Kagome followed him out, but no one else moved from their seats. Ginta and Hakkaku glanced at each other but timidly kept their mouths shut.

"What did I say?" Yuka wondered aloud.

Kagome knew where Inuyasha was headed. She found him sitting on mossy tree roots, leaning against the base of the sacred tree. His golden-eyed gaze stared blankly at the ground. There was a dull aura of sadness around him that made the air feel dank and heavy. Hesitantly, Kagome walked up to him.

He stiffened for an instant and asked, "Did the others come?"

Kagome shook her head and Inuyasha seemed to relax somewhat, dropping the emotionless mask slightly to reveal a man lost and unsure of where to go or what to do. Kagome walked up to him and leaned against his side, leaving the silence intact. He sighed softly and draped an arm around her small body. She felt weak and frail in this form, and that worried him.

"How are you holding up?" he asked gently, his voice hushed but full of concern, "This can't be easy for you."

Kagome sighed and shrugged the best she could. It was then she started talking, not even caring that he couldn't understand. Somehow, the words just needed to be said, regardless if Inuyasha could hear them or not.

"It's all so confusing - the scents, the sounds, having a _tail_! And you're so much taller than usual! I can't even see your ears unless I'm like five feet away from you! I can't talk and I keep tripping over my own tail! And…you don't even know what I'm saying…"

Kagome didn't know why she was rambling on, but her chest ached in the way that it did whenever she felt the need to cry. Could foxes cry? She wondered, and could have laughed at herself for wondering such a thing – she'd never wondered it before and yet now it seemed so relevant.

Inuyasha gazed down at the frail fox beside him. He could hear the yelps and whines that came out of her mouth, but it was not a language he understood. He wished to know what it was she was saying, if only to comfort her. Somehow he knew that she was sad – perhaps it was the way her body shook as though wracked by sobs, or the way her ears drooped miserably. Or maybe it was just that guilty feeling deep within his gut that he felt whenever he saw her cry.

"What's with the fox, Inuyasha?" A cold voice asked, alerting the two to a new presence in the area. Inuyasha cursed himself for not paying enough attention. He should have noticed earlier.

As graceful as the wind she controlled, Kagura landed cat-like in front of the pair. She snapped her fan open, her crimson eyes glinting with cruel amusement. Inuyasha didn't know why she was here – but he would bet anything she was after Kagome's jewel shards.

"Keeping a pet?" Kagura smirked, gesturing to the trembling fox, "Or has your little fox-child friend _finally _figured out how to take full animal form?"

Inuyasha snarled angrily, tightening his grip around the trembling Kagome. Kagura rolled her eyes at his reaction, impatience entering her expression.

"Regardless," she snapped, brandishing her fan, "where is your little weakling of a girlfriend? I have some…_business _with her!"

With a violent swipe her fan, Kagura sent a crescent blade of wind slicing through the air towards Inuyasha and the fox. The half-demon leapt away, but a forceful gust of wind sent Kagome tumbling out of his grasp. With a yelp she fell against the roots of the sacred tree and struggled to get up. Smiling maliciously, Kagura swept another crescent blade towards the trembling fox.

"Kagome!" yelled Inuyasha, lunging at the fox and knocking her out of the way. The wind blade dashed passed harmlessly and cut a thin path through the bushes before dissipating.

Snarling, the half-demon turned to glower at the wind sorceress with Kagome tucked safely under his arm. She trembled against his body, her wide eyes staring at Kagura. Kagura stared back, an intrigued look on her face as she lowered her fan.

"Did you call that fox _Kagome_?" The wind sorceress asked, and Inuyasha froze.

He growled bitterly at her, placing the fox on the ground behind him and drawing Tetsusaiga from its sheath.

"I won't let you harm her," the half-demon snarled, taking a stance as Tetsusaiga transformed from a rusty old blade into a magnificent sword.

But Kagura was grinning now, as though she'd just discovered something quite delightful, "I don't believe it! The little priestess has gotten herself turned into a fox! My, my, this _is_ interesting! I wonder what Naraku will think…"

"Dammit!" Inuyasha roared loudly and cut the air with Tetsusaiga, sending a rippling bolt of energy tearing through the ground towards Kagura.

But the wind sorceress easily dodged the Wind Scar, plucking one of the feathers from her hair and leaping skywards. As the feather enlarged into the size of a small canoe, Kagura landed in its centre and floated up towards the tops of the trees.

"See you around, Inuyasha!" she called down mockingly, flying away to avoid the second Wind Scar that the half-demon aimed at her.

"Dammit, Kagura!" an infuriated Inuyasha yelled, "Get back here!"

Needless to say, his words went unheeded.

"Well, that's unlike her," Kagome murmured to herself, staring at the sky into which Kagura had disappeared.

"We should make sure she doesn't go after the others," Inuyasha turned back to the village, his golden eyes worried, "It will be quicker if I carry you."

Kagome nodded in agreement and he knelt for her to climb on his back. Kagome cocked her ear, which seemed to be the fox equivalent of a raised eyebrow. Inuyasha looked back at her, confused by her hesitation.

"How's that going to work?" Kagome muttered and, though Inuyasha didn't understand, he quickly remembered what he'd forgotten.

Realizing his mistake, Inuyasha gently picked her up in his arms, cradling her and making sure her legs had something to rest upon. As he ran she rested her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat, and drifted off.


	6. Chapter 6

**6.**

Kagome woke to Inuyasha's cocky face looking down on her, "I can't believe you fell asleep!"

"Well," she yawned, raising her head, "I'm tired and your arms are kind of comfortable."

She blushed slightly beneath her golden fur and was grateful said fur hid the blush. But then she remembered Inuyasha couldn't understand her in this form and was almost relieved he hadn't heard her say that. She contented herself with snuggling further into his arms. Inuyasha snorted in amusement as he carried her into the hut, giving warning glares that he would not tolerate any comments about her position next to his chest.

"Kagura didn't bother you?" was the first thing the half-demon asked when he was met by the curious stares of his friends and comrades.

"Inuyasha, you're back!" Miroku stood up and then paused, "…Kagura?"

"Yeah, we ran into her…" Inuyasha scowled at the memory, "She got away after finding out about Kagome."

Sango exchanged a worried glance with Miroku, "Think she'll tell Naraku?"

"It seems likely," the monk sighed, and turned to look gravely at Inuyasha, "I think the smartest course of action is to get this curse removed as soon as possible – before Naraku has a chance to use it to his advantage."

"Who's Naraku?" Eri called, but was ignored by the others. She huffed angrily and folded her arms.

Inuyasha set Kagome down gently, "Right. Well, we know the first thing we need. I think it's time I payed Sesshomaru a little visit."

Shippo and Kirara looked at each other, and the fox demon muttered, "This isn't going to go well, is it?"

The first question that needed answering was where and how they were going to find Sesshomaru. He didn't exactly stay put in one place for very long. But while Miroku and Sango pondered this, Inuyasha was pondering something else. He considered the trio of schoolgirls for a moment – still wearing their less-than clean school uniforms.

"What?" Yuka asked after several moments, put a little on edge by his golden-eyed stare.

"I'm thinking about what to do with you," Inuyasha snapped, a little sarcastically, "I think you'd best stay here with these two mangy wolves and wait until we return."

"What?" Eri yelped, turning to stare briefly at Ginta and Hakkaku, "No way! We're coming with you!"

Inuyasha's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, "Like hell you are! I ain't putting up with you three – you'll only slow us down! No way, you're staying right here!"

Yuka was on her feet suddenly, "You can't boss us around! Kagome's our friend and we want to help her! You think we'd just let you run off with her just because you're her boyfriend? She's our friend and friends stick together!"

"I said, you're staying here!" Inuyasha yelled, clenching his fists.

"And I said we're coming with you!" Yuka yelled back, followed by a determined 'yeah!' from Eri.

"Argh! Stop being so difficult!"

"We can't leave Kagome like this," Ayumi cut in, her voice much calmer than Yuka's, "We have to come with you."

Inuyasha clenched his teeth, a vein throbbing in his forehead. Kaede sighed.

"Ye should leave them be, Inuyasha," the old woman suggested wisely, "Arguing will get you nowhere. Let them accompany you. Perhaps they may be of some help to you."

The half-demon stared incredulously, "Are you crazy, you old hag? How could they be of any help to us? They have no idea what this world is like!"

Kaede stared gravely back at him, "No, but they will learn. Kagome did, did she not?"

Scowling, Inuyasha huffed and turned away. The modern trio of girls glanced at each other, wondering if they'd won the argument or not. Shippo provided the answer.

"Well, looks like you're coming with us," the little fox demon stated, looking up at them, "Inuyasha's pretty stubborn, but you'll get used to it."

Eri stared at the little demon, "You are…really cute."

Shippo blushed. Snorting, Inuyasha made to turn away but his attention was caught by Koga's two comrades. Ginta and Hakkaku had stood up.

"What about us? Can we come too?" Ginta asked hesitantly, while Hakkaku nodded fervently.

Inuyasha scoffed, "No way. You two are staying right here until Koga gets back."

"But –," Hakkaku began, only to be cut off by a dangerous glare from the half-demon.

"_No_ arguments."

"Yes sir!" the wolf demons yelped together and sat down quickly. A bead of sweat ran down Kagome's head as she watched. At least they were less difficult.

After they had packed, with Inuyasha shouldering Kagome's monstrous backpack, the gang set off. Their idea was to head westward towards Sesshomaru's territory in the hopes they may run into him along the way. But he, too, was searching for Naraku, and could be anywhere. Their only hope was that luck was on their side.

They had barely left the village and Kagome was already having constant problems tripping over absolutely everything. She stumbled and fell when her back leg caught on her tail, and then tripped again when she got her forepaws tangled up.

'_You'd think extra feet would make it easier,_' she thought bitterly as she tripped over a clump of grass for the hundredth time.

Inuyasha finally picked her up when he realised she was lagging behind. He could tell from the way she was panting that she was exhausted from all this tripping and stumbling. They'd already been walking for an hour. Her form trembled in his arms as he tucked her close to his body. Kagome stared up at him for a moment, a little ashamed at her weakness, and hung her head apologetically.

"Not your fault," Inuyasha whispered to her reassuringly, and glanced at the modern girls pointedly, "and they're worse."

Kagome looked in the same direction to see her modern friends dragging their feet in the dirt and complaining constantly. Their shoulders drooped and their arms hung limp as they complained about everything from the heat of the sun to the aches in their legs. Miroku and Sango were striving to ignore them.

Kagome sighed and rolled her eyes slightly, "well, they've never had to walk so far."

"She said they've never had to walk so far before," said Shippo, popping up on Inuyasha's shoulder. Kagome smiled thankfully at him.

Inuyasha glared at Shippo, "Did I say you could ride on me? Do I look like a pack animal to you?"

As they continued to argue, Sango and Miroku were discussing yet another line of the poem in hushed voices.

"A few drops of blood from the one you love the best… are you sure?" Miroku whispered anxiously, glancing back briefly at Inuyasha and Kagome.

"That's definitely what Shippo said," Sango replied softly.

"Well, the meaning of that is obvious. The trick is to get them to admit it," Miroku grimaced slightly, thinking of the pair's awkwardness with figuring out the obvious.

"Inuyasha, maybe," Sango agreed quietly, so as to not alert Inuyasha as to what they were talking about, "but I don't think Kagome's so clueless. I think we should leave it to them."

"I'm not so sure," Miroku mumbled dubiously.

"Pushing them isn't going to help anything. You _know_ how stubborn they are."

"True," the monk sighed, shaking his head slowly.

"I say we leave them be – for now. If we must, we'll try to help later," a slight frown graced Sango's face.

"Agreed," Miroku replied, and the two continued to walk in silence.

"Would you slow down?" yelled Eri angrily, about an hour later. She and her friends had ceased their moans a while ago, but it didn't mean they were any less tired, "My legs are _killing_ me!"

Ayumi and Yuka nodded fervently, their feet dragging on the ground. They did look exhausted. Kagome glanced at Inuyasha before asking Shippo to translate something.

"Sango," Shippo called ahead to the demon slayer, "Kagome wanted to know if Kirara would mind carrying them."

The three girls glanced at the petite cat before glaring at Shippo, "That's not funny!"

"Yeah, there is no way that little fox thing can carry us!" Yuka added, her cheeks a little red from the heat of the sun.

"Actually, she's a twin-tailed cat demon," Shippo corrected them calmly, "not a fox. _Neko_ demons never get more than two tails, though admittedly fox demons-."

"Shut it, Shippo, we don't need a lecture," Inuyasha growled, cutting the young fox demon off. He glanced at the little cat demon, "Kirara, please carry them. Their complaints are getting _really _irritating!"

Kirara released a catty sigh before engulfing herself in fire. The girls screamed and jumped back as the fire grew, but an instant later it cleared to reveal a large lion-like demon with large sabre teeth. The demon cat turned her red eyes on the trembling trio of schoolgirls. Eri whimpered.

"Well, get on!" Inuyasha snapped impatiently, "We haven't got all day!"

The girls looked at the great cat fearfully, "We are _not_ getting on that thing!"

Shippo heaved a sigh. He jumped off Inuyasha's shoulder and ran over to jump on Kirara's back. She turned her head to look at him as he bounced up and down on her shoulders.

"It's fine, see? She's the same cat, just a lot bigger!" Shippo grinned reassuringly, but the girls didn't look convinced.

"That thing belongs in a zoo," Eri muttered beneath her breath, but the sharp ears of the demon cat heard her and Kirara growled angrily. Yelping, Eri jumped a step backwards.

Sango sighed and strode back to place her hand on Kirara's short mane of fur, "Look, Kirara won't hurt you. Trust me."  
"So hurry up and get on! You're slowing us down!" Inuyasha glowered at them.

Trembling, the three girls had to make a choice between the vicious looking cat and Inuyasha's wrath. They chose Kirara. Inching slowly forwards, Yuka held out a trembling arm towards the large cat. Kirara remained stock still. At last Yuka's hand made contact with Kirara's mane, and a part of her relaxed.

Ayumi followed closely, taking small steps until she was right in front of Kirara. She held her hand out timidly and was surprised when Kirara pressed her forehead against her palm. Sighing, Ayumi let herself relax. Eri was harder to convince. She hung back, sure that her friends were about to get gobbled up by the vicious cat at any moment.

Shippo trotted around behind Eri and began to push on her legs. Startled, Eri stumbled forwards and automatically held her hands out to stop her fall. Her hands met fur and she realised she was touching the demon cat. With a yelp, Eri jumped backwards. Kirara stared. Several second passed and Eri finally reached out a timid hand to touch the large cat's mane. Kirara purred gently.

"Good, now can you get on?" Inuyasha asked impatiently, tapping his foot in the dirt.

Seconds later the group were running at a much faster pace, the three school girls clutching each other fearfully as Kirara bounded along beneath them. At times the great cat leapt and stayed airborne for several minutes before hitting ground again. The girls were wide-eyed with shock.

"This is amazing!" Yuka cried, clutching at Kirara's mane. Ayumi clung tightly to her waist, while Eri clutched at Ayumi fearfully.

Inuyasha smirked and said nothing. He ran with Kagome tucked against his chest and Shippo clinging to his shoulder. Miroku and Sango ran beside him, and he had to slow the pace to allow them to keep up. But none-the-less, they were making good time. Now, if they could just find Sesshomaru.

However, it seemed that luck was not on their side this day, for the day came and went but there was no sign of Inuyasha's older brother. Eventually they stopped to set up camp in a small thicket, lighting a fire to ward away the encroaching darkness. With the girls off her back, Kirara was free to transform back into a kitten. She curled up gratefully beside the fire, worn out by her three passengers.

Inuyasha set Kagome down gently and she shook herself like a real fox might do before sitting down and observing the clearing. Her modern friends had slumped down together, moaning about sore feet and sunburnt faces. Sango and Miroku sat together a little way away from them, hoping to ignore their complaints.

"So," Inuyasha sighed, stretching, "We'll sleep here. Hopefully we can find Sesshomaru tomorrow. In the meantime – who's up for some dinner?"

At the mention of food, the modern trio instantly perked up. They leapt for Kagome's large backpack, but Inuyasha quickly yanked it out of their reach. Eyes wide and pleading, they gazed up at the half-demon. He glared back at them.

'What do you think you're doing? I'm not letting you three take all the ninja food Kagome brought back for us," Inuyasha sat down and began to rummage through the bag, "What have we got in here…"

The girls exchanged bemused glances, "Ninja food?"

While everyone else was waiting for Inuyasha to get the food out of Kagome's over-stuffed backpack, Kagome herself had focused her attention on something else. The bushes a few meters away were rustling gently and something strange had clicked in Kagome's mind. As she continued to watch the rustling leaves, she became increasingly unaware of the arguing group next to her and increasingly more aware of everything else. Her senses felt sharper than ever and her mouth was starting to water at the idea of whatever it was that was making those bushes rustle.

Suddenly a small furry rodent popped out of the leafy cover and began to patter along in the undergrowth. Baring her fangs, Kagome lowered her new body into a crouching stance and slowly began to stalk nearer to the rodent. It was rustling in the leaves as though looking for worms or bugs and hadn't noticed her at all. Her tongue salivating, Kagome readied her body to pounce.

"Kagome!" Shippo suddenly appeared beside her, startling her enough to make her yelp and scrambled backwards. The little rodent shot like a bullet into the bushes.

The fox demon stared at her, bemused by her reaction, "What were you doing?"

Kagome blinked, suddenly realising where she was. What _had_ she been doing? How odd, she'd almost forgotten about her friends. Was that a rat she had been stalking? The very thought disgusted her.

"I…don't know," she replied, confused. Shippo raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I brought you this," he held out a box of rice balls that he had been holding, "You must be hungry."

Kagome looked at them, "Yes…yes I am."

As she sat down with Shippo to eat them, Kagome couldn't help but wonder why she had been stalking a rat. Had she really intended to eat it? Well, at least these rice balls were better than rodent. She wasn't aware that Shippo was scrutinising her closely.

'_What was that all about?_' Kagome wondered to herself, unaware that Shippo was wondering the same thing.

'_Is she starting to act like a real fox?_'


	7. Chapter 7

**7.**

The next morning found the group on the move again, the girls once more on Kirara's back. They'd left camp early morning and it was almost midday, but still no sign of Sesshomaru.

"This is hopeless," Miroku sighed, "It's like finding a needle in a haystack! Sesshomaru could be anywhere!"

"We might even be going the wrong way," Sango muttered dryly in agreement.

But as they sighed and wondered if anything would ever go their way, the almost impossible happened. Inuyasha suddenly skidded to a halt, his golden eyes wide, and everyone halted around him. The half-demon stared into the wind.

"I can smell him."

The trio of school girls stared, "what?"

"I can smell Sesshomaru," Inuyasha growled, placing Kagome on the ground and resting a hand on the hilt of Tetsusaiga, "He's coming this way!"

Miroku and Sango exchanged glances. The monk shrugged, "Well…maybe we were wrong."

"How's that for luck," Kagome whispered to Shippo, and the young fox demon nodded in agreement.

Inuyasha held out a clawed hand, "All of you get back. I'm going to deal with this and I don't need you getting in the way."

He glared at the modern day girls, "especially you!"

The group slowly backed away from Inuyasha, crouching close to the edge of the nearby forest and watching the red-robed half-demon as he faced the wind. Moments passed and Sango whispered something to Miroku.

"Why do you think he's coming towards us? Do you think he's caught Inuyasha's scent?"

But the monk shook his head, "I doubt it. The wind is blowing towards Inuyasha. Likely Sesshomaru doesn't know he's there yet. He must be headed somewhere else."

In silence, the group waited tensely for the dog demon to show his face. Inuyasha's grip tightened on Tetsusaiga and he quickly looked up. Everyone else looked up too and saw a shimmering ball of light speed down towards the half demon. Kagome tensed.

Inuyasha stepped back as the ball of light materialised into a human-like shape in front of him. The light faded and a demon stood before him – a demon with golden eyes, long white hair and a furry white pelt over one shoulder. Sesshomaru glared at his younger half brother.

"Well, well, fancy meeting you here," Inuyasha smirked, not taking his hand off Tetsusaiga, "Where you off to, Sesshomaru?"

The dog demon stared coldly at him, "That is not of your concern, little brother. And yet I could ask you the same thing."

Kagome glanced up briefly in time to see a distant dragon-like figure descend into the trees on the opposite side of the plain. She would bet anything that it was Ah-Un and his two passengers – Rin and Jaken. No doubt Sesshomaru had told them to stay away while he dealt with Inuyasha.

"Well, you see," Inuyasha slowly drew his sword from its sheath, "We actually came looking for you. There's something I need from you, Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru barely batted an eyelid as Tetsusaiga transformed in Inuyasha's hands. He merely stared coldly at the half-demon and replied, "Whatever would you need from me, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha levelled his sword at his brother's head, "One of your hairs."

A small silence passed while Sesshomaru cocked a subtle eyebrow, "What an odd request. But, coming from you, I shouldn't be surprised. Your time playing with humans has muddled your mind, Inuyasha. Have you no pride?"

"He's going to mess this up, isn't he?" Miroku sighed.

"Shut it!" Inuyasha roared, leaping at his older brother with anger in his eyes.

Shippo rolled his eyes, "Yep."

Inuyasha lunged at Sesshomaru, only to be dodged as easily as if he had moved no faster than a snail. As though he considered the fight not worth his notice, Sesshomaru glanced towards the bushes and his stoic gaze lingered on the three new girls. They were all wearing that same strange garment that the girl Kagome always wore. Vaguely he noticed that Kagome was nowhere to be seen. This hardly bothered him. "Still hanging around mortals?" he taunted his younger brother, gracefully sidestepped every one of Inuyasha's crude slashes, "I would think you would have learned your lesson by now."

"Just shut up!" Inuyasha snarled, lifting Tetsusaiga high over his head. He brought it down forcefully in front of him, sending a wind scar rippling through the earth towards Sesshomaru.

The graceful dog demon skirted around the wind scar, and the power rippled his hair and the sleeves of his kimono as it rushed passed. The wind scar struck the trees behind him, bringing several down with an almighty crash. Sesshomaru ignored the noise and calmly drew Tokijin from its sheath. Snarling, Inuyasha tightened his grip on the hilt of Tetsusaiga and charged.

"Is it just me or is he missing an arm?" pondered Ayumi curiously, who didn't seem to have grasped the seriousness of the situation.

"I think you're right! The sleeve blows everywhere!" exclaimed Yuka in surprise, her eyes wide. Eri stared.

Kagome was too focused on the fight to notice the girls' conversation. She glared daggers at Sesshomaru, though her whole body trembled in fright. All she wanted was to hurry out there and stop them, but in her fox form she knew any such action would be useless. Why did they always have to fight when they met? It never did them any good!

"Why does he have a puff ball on his shoulder?" Ayumi wondered, "It looks very fluffy. Maybe it's his tail!"

Sesshomaru glanced briefly towards her, sidestepping Inuyasha's lunge and blocking his sword strike at the same time. His golden eyes glinted dangerously, but he said nothing and turned back to the fight in time to block another strike and send Inuyasha flying with a thrust of his own sword.

"That face paint is really messed up!" Yuka pronounced loudly, squinting at the dog demon, "What sort of weirdo is this guy?"

"What's with the robe?" Eri snorted, "He looks like a girl!"

Walking boldly towards Inuyasha's prone body, the lord of the west paused briefly to cast another glare in the direction of the girls. A brief spasm of anger crossed his expression, and his eyes alone were enough to frighten the girls into silence – if only for a few moments. Inuyasha took the chance to struggle back to his feet and leap at his older brother.

Shippo, who had been listening, stared at Kagome in disbelief, "Are your friends suicidal? Tell me they did not say that!"

"Huh?" Kagome hadn't been listening. Her attention had been focused on Inuyasha and she cringed as Sesshomaru countered his lunge skilfully with a swipe of his sword. His half-demon brother stumbled backwards, blood dripping from a deep gash in his arm.

"No, they're just a little unwise," she mumbled to Shippo, not taking her terrified eyes off Inuyasha, "Why? What's wrong?"

"You haven't heard them?" the fox demon asked incredulously.

"I wasn't listening. What did they say?" Kagome briefly turned her head to look at Shippo.

"Some things that are likely to get them killed!" Shippo replied, sounding strained, though his voice was almost drowned out by a yell from Inuyasha.

"Adamant barrage!" the half-demon roared, cutting the air with Tetsusaiga and sending several spears of diamond shooting towards his older brother. Sesshomaru merely swiped them carelessly away with his sword and ran at Inuyasha.

Kagome swore softly, "Damn! I forgot to tell them not to insult Sesshomaru!"

"Wow, you must be upset!" Shippo said in awe, green eyes wide.

"What is it, Shippo?" Miroku asked quietly, eyes fixed on the fight. Tetsusaiga and Tokijin clashed in an array of sparks and the two brothers leapt apart again.

"Kagome is irritable enough to swear," Shippo replied, waving a dismissal paw.

"What's irritated her that bad?" Sango asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

Shippo gestured to Kagome's modern age friends, "They're being idiots!"

"Inuyasha's more of one," was Miroku's response as he watched the half-demon charge Sesshomaru yet again.

"I heard that!" yelled Inuyasha, his sword clashing gratingly against Sesshomaru's Tokijin. His full demon brother looked almost bored with the fight.

Sesshomaru glanced nonchalantly at the chatting group near the edge of the trees, "I find your unnecessary excess of noise irritable. This is your only warning, mortals."

"Pay attention to the fight, _brother_," Inuyasha spat the word brother as if it was a curse, "or you'll lose your other arm to me as well!"

He brought Tetsusaiga up again and slashed it down hard, only to be blocked once more by Tokijin. Crimson sparks flew from both blades as the sickening squeal of metal against metal was heard. Kagome cringed as the sound assaulted her sensitive fox ears.

"Inuyasha chopped off his _own brother's_ arm?" Eri yelped in horror, "They must really not get along!"

Yuka, Ayumi, Sango, Shippo, Miroku and Kagome stared at her.

"You're just figuring that out _now_?" they asked incredulously in unison. Kirara uttered a loud 'meow!' that clearly held a similar meaning.

"I thought I told you to be _quiet_!" Sesshomaru interrupted, wrenching Tokijin away from Tetsusaiga and kicking his brother in the chest.

Viciously, the dog demon aimed a Dragon Strike at the trio of schoolgirls but, in an act of both stupidity and bravery, Kagome jumped in front. The rippling bolt of blue energy charged towards her and she tensed herself for impact, screwing her eyes shut.

"Kagome!" yelled Inuyasha, leaping recklessly towards the fox. Time seemed to slow for several seconds as the half-demon strove to reach her on time. His heart thudded fearfully in his chest.

Suddenly his hands connected with her small furry body, pushing her out of the way. Inuyasha had no time to leap out of the way himself, or to bring Tetsusaiga up in front of his body like a shield. The Dragon Strike hit him full force in the chest, throwing him backwards where he landed crumpled at the feet of the horrified trio of schoolgirls. Kagome leapt back to her feet as her modern day friends squealed with fright and backed quickly away.

Inuyasha sat up slowly, wincing, blood leaking from the corners of his mouth. Blood blossomed across his sleeve from the gash in his arm and he was panting heavily. He could hardly move from his position on the ground, pain wracking his body.

Sesshomaru strode up and stood at Inuyasha's feet, staring callously down at him, "As pitiful as ever, half-breed, sacrificing yourself for a mere canine."

A strange growl reached his ears at that point and he looked down curiously. There, right on top of Inuyasha's feet, was Kagome, crouched and growling at the Lord of the West. Her hackles rose and she snarled, her fur spiking up like a cat's and her fangs showing as she curled her lips. She looked for all the world like Kirara hissing in her kitten form.

"Leave him alone!" she snarled, not even thinking.

Ignoring the snarling fox, Sesshomaru stared coldly at his half-brother, "I will kill you at a later date, Inuyasha, when it is a fair fight and your foolish pride does not force you to take a hit not intended for you. This Lord Sesshomaru does not take advantage of another's weakness."

His eyes, though the warm colour of the sun, were as cold as ice, "But next time, little brother, you will join father in the afterlife."

He turned around and, taking great care to show how unwary he was of an attack, strode away. The group watched him leave, surprised by his sudden departure.

"Jaken, Rin," he called emotionlessly, "Come!"

The great dog demon rose into the sky and was gone, as Ah-Un and his passengers appeared from within the trees and soared after him. In the silence that followed, Inuyasha struggled to get up. He made it onto his knees, wincing, as blood dripped from his mouth and dropped like red pebbles onto the grass between his hands. Kagome watched him anxiously.

"D-damn…" the half-demon muttered, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth, "He got away. I didn't even…"

Sango and Miroku exchanged anxious glances, "how are we going to get the hair now?"

"Guess we'll just have to hunt him down again…" Inuyasha mumbled, still crouching on the ground.

Shippo chewed his nails anxiously, "but you'll just get beaten up again, Inuyasha!"

"Shut it, Shippo!" the half-demon snarled, making an effort to lunge at the fox demon. But he snarled in pain and fell backwards, glaring daggers at the kid fox, "I'll get him. I'll get him next time."

The modern trio seemed to have been frightened into silence and hadn't said a word. But while everyone else was pondering Inuyasha's defeat at the hands of his older brother, Kagome was focusing on something else. Now that she was close to Inuyasha, she was starting to catch a whiff of a familiar smell – Sesshomaru. It wasn't much, but it was there. Hesitantly, she edged closer to the half-demon.

"I smell him," she mumbled to herself, and Shippo looked at her in confusion.

"Kagome? Something wrong?" he asked.

She shook her head, "I can smell Sesshomaru."

The fox demon scratched his ear, "yeah, well, he was here just a second ago – and your sense of smell should be a lot better now that you're a fox!"

But again Kagome shook her head, "No! I mean it's right here – on Inuyasha!"

Everyone stared in bewilderment as the golden fox clambered up onto Inuyasha's knee and began to sniff at his robe. A tinge of red touched Inuyasha's cheeks, but he appeared to have frozen and made no move to push her away. Kagome's sensitive nose quickly picked up the source of the scent and she rubbed her muzzle against Inuyasha's chest.

Ignoring everyone's stunned stares, the golden fox stepped back from Inuyasha and held her muzzle up. Her eyes glinted triumphantly.

"There! I thought I smelled something!"

Shippo stared. There, draped across Kagome's golden-furred muzzle, was a single long strand of white hair. It was far too long to be one of Inuyasha's and it most definitely smelled of Sesshomaru. Kagome smiled a whiskery smile.

"Guess Inuyasha's fight wasn't in vain!"

"But how the hell did it get on me?" said Inuyasha, wrinkling his nose, "Demon hair doesn't exactly come off that easily!"

'_I should know,_'thought Kagome, remembering a time she had _attempted_ to brush the Hanyou's hair and got the brush snagged in it. The brush hadn't come out for hours, and she couldn't cut it out due to the hair's ridiculous strength.

'_Sesshomaru knew what we were after, and Tetsusaiga didn't even get close to him, so he must have purposely left it there. But why? They have been getting along _slightly_ better, but would he really do that?_' Kagome frowned.

"Impossible," she muttered, earning a questioning glance from Shippo.

"Nothing!" Kagome yelped quickly. If Inuyasha figured that out, she knew perfectly well that he would not be pleased. Kagome grimaced as she imagined Inuyasha chasing Sesshomaru, shouting about not excepting charity.

Shippo decided to disregard this. His thoughts turned instead to something else that was worrying him.Kagome was starting to become more and more like a fox. Of this he was certain.

As Miroku fished out a small jar to keep the hair safe, Shippo started speaking in fox-talk. Everybody stared at him, bewildered, except Kagome who was looking, or rather attempting to look at Inuyasha's wounds.

"Yes, Shippo," she answered as though it was of little importance, "I think my sense of smell is better than when I first changed, why?"

Shippo nearly fainted and his face turned almost white.

"Shippo? Are you ok?" asked a worried Sango, "You look very pale."

"I-it's nothing; just checking something," the young fox child stuttered quickly, hoping they would drop it. But his hopes were in vain, especially with Inuyasha around.

"It's obvious something is wrong, so just fess up Shippo!" the half-demon snapped impatiently. Shippo backed away.

"I-I don't know wh-what you mean, Inuyasha!" he mumbled, his eyes darting suspiciously.

"Leave him alone, Inuyasha," Kagome growled warningly, and everyone got the point by her tone.

Relieved that they had stopped pestering him, Shippo resolved to talk to Kagome soon.

'_What did dad use to teach me about transformation curses?'_ Shippo squeezed his eyes shut, trying to remember. His father's voice seemed to float back to him upon the wind, his words repeating themselves as though he'd spoken them only yesterday.

"_Never put a full powered curse on someone, for you are in the end changing their identity and therefore are not punishing them. They will become a new being and will be altered into something more pure, but they will still long for that which they have lost. You are therefore not cursing your enemy, but rather a soon to be purer soul." _

"_If you ever fall under another's curse, remember this – if you understand the tongue of those you did not before, it is a full curse. Though remember, you speak the tongue regardless. But it is not anyone's lot to change another's spirit, for that eventually creates cruelty to a mere animal. Animals lend us their power – their spirit is a part of us, which is why we are not human."_

"That's what he said," Shippo mumbled quietly, as he began trembling like a leaf.

"Shippo? What's wrong?" asked a concerned Kagome, having given up on forcing first aid on the headstrong half-demon.

"No-nothing," Shippo stuttered, in fox-language again just to be sure.

Kagome shrugged, still eyeing him with concern, "Okay, but you know you can talk to me if you want to tell me something."

"O-of co-course Ka-Kagome."

Kagome turned around and made her way over to her bag, deciding to try and get some studying done, as they clearly weren't going anywhere soon. Inuyasha needed to rest and here was as good a place as any to do so. She wasn't looking forwards to having to turn pages in this form, and without fingers she had no hope of grasping a pencil to write anything down. But at least she could try.

Kagome tried in vain to hook the little zipper pullie first with a claw, but couldn't reach it far up enough. She then tried to bit it, hoping her sharp fangs would catch it. But it proved more difficult that she thought. Inuyasha stood up, walked over, and wordlessly unzipped it.

"You should still be lying down, idiot!" Kagome yelled at him, not caring that he didn't understand, and continued with a barking tirade.

Inuyasha glowered at her, "What's your problem? I was just opening it for you!"

Kagome snarled, "You shouldn't be standing after that fight! Shippo, tell Miroku and Sango that I expect him to rest!"

'_He shouldn't have to do all this for me,_' she thought bitterly. She hated feeling so useless in this form.

"Yes Kagome," Shippo sighed and relayed the message, "Miroku, Sango, she asked me to tell you to make him rest."

The monk and the demon slayer glanced at the young fox demon. Something about his tone seemed different, as though he was lacking his usual spirit and will. He was worried about something, whatever it may be.

"And how would we manage that?" Miroku asked, raising an eyebrow. Pinning Inuyasha down was easier said than done.

"I don't know!" Shippo snapped.

Ignoring the argument, Inuyasha asked, "What were you getting?"

"Chemistry book," Kagome replied shortly, not looking at the half-demon.

"What's chemistry?"" a curious Shippo asked.

"Can you ask Inuyasha to get my chemistry book, please Shippo? I really need to study," she pleaded.

"Okay, Kagome," Shippo sighed, still sounding slightly listless.

As Inuyasha fished out the book, Kagome continued to glare daggers at him. The half-demon set it down in front of her and she knew from the colour it was the right one, but when she flipped it open she had no idea what it said. Kagome yelped something indecipherable. It was more like a sound that a dog makes when it is beaten and afraid – the equivalent of a wordless human scream.

"What? What is it?" Inuyasha yelped, alarmed by the high-pitched noise.

"I-I can't!" Kagome whimpered and Shippo stared at her in confusion.

"Can't what?" the young fox demon asked anxiously.

"I can't read!"


	8. Chapter 8

**8.**

"I don't understand!" Kagome whimpered, flipping desperately through the pages, her claws tearing many small rips in the process, "Why can't I understand it?"

To her the ordered lines of letters and numbers seemed merely jumbles of spiky lines. It meant nothing to her – she couldn't even recall what words were supposed to look like. Panic flooded her veins and she found herself tearing frantically at the pages of the book as though somehow it would help her to understand.

"Whoa, Kagome!" Inuyasha picked her up and lifted her away from the book to stop her from tearing it to shreds, "What the heck has gotten into you?"

Kagome whimpered in his hands, but the fox-like noises she was making made no sense to the half-demon. He looked helplessly to Shippo for help and the fox demon thought frantically for an excuse. He didn't want Inuyasha to know that Kagome might be becoming more like a fox – it would only make him panic.

"She's uh…she forgot about…" Shippo hesitated, "a test…"

Inuyasha blinked and slowly put Kagome down, "Oh, is that all? Feh, these tests of yours can't be that important. No need to panic about it."

Shaking his head, Inuyasha turned and strode away. He sat down near Sango and Miroku, wincing. Kagome stared at Shippo, bewildered.

"Why did you lie?" she asked the young fox demon, but he looked away.

"I…" Shippo looked ashamed, "Kagome…I need to talk to you about something."

Kagome blinked, "About…what?"

Shippo hesitated and at that moment Sango approached. She glanced back at Inuyasha briefly before kneeling down with the two foxes. Kagome looked quizzically at her.

"Listen, Kagome…" the demon-slayer paused and stared at the ground, "We need to talk about the next line of the poem – the antidote."

"What about it?" Kagome asked, and heard Shippo echo her words.

Sango lowered her voice to a whisper, "You remember what it was, right? A few drops of blood from the one you love best…I don't know if I'm out of line saying this, but…the one you love best is…"

Suddenly Kagome realised where this was going and she blushed furiously. But her golden fur hid that. She looked away, digging her claws into the dirt.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about…" she mumbled, feeling very embarrassed. Shippo folded his arms.

"Come on, Kagome. We all know it," the young demon stated boldly, "Stop trying to deny it. I _know_ you like him!"

Kagome made an odd growling noise, not unlike the strange purring noise that Kirara often made, and backed away. Sango clasped her hands pleadingly.

"Come on, Kagome! This is to change you back! You want to change back don't you? You…love Inuyasha, don't you?" the demon-slayer hesitated, watching Kagome's reaction.

The golden fox uttered a wheezy sigh and looked down. Somehow Sango and Shippo both knew that was a yes. The demon-slayer smiled gently and Kagome looked up.

"So all I have to do is get blood from him?" she asked, grimacing at the thought. Shippo relayed the message and Sango nodded.

"It'll be easier than that. After that fight with Sesshomaru, Inuyasha's robe of the Fire Rat is soaked in his blood. You could just get a few drops from that."

It was still a gruesome idea, but Kagome knew it was better than extracting blood from the half-demon directly. Hesitantly, she nodded her agreement. Sango seemed pleased.

"We'll wait until he's asleep," she told the two foxes, "That way he won't know what we're up to."

Reluctantly, Kagome agreed.

Inuyasha fell asleep near sundown. Kagome's modern day friends had hardly spoken since the end of the fight. They seemed to have been frightened into an extended silence and, though it was a relief in some ways, Kagome hoped they'd break out of it eventually. The Feudal Era was a dangerous place even at the best of times. One had to always stay on their guard.

It took only seconds for Kagome and Shippo to steal a few drops of Inuyasha's blood. He'd taken his blood-soaked robe off while he healed and left it hanging on a branch not far from his sleeping position. Shippo and Kagome crept quietly over, a small glass bottle in hand. Grimacing, Shippo reached up to wring the blood out of the sleeve of the robe, while Kagome positioned the bottle beneath it. It was gruesome work.

Several drops of blood fell into the bottle, filling it up about a quarter of the way. Satisfied, Shippo jumped down from the branch and put the cork in the bottle. He wiped his bloody hands on the grass and Kagome picked the bottle up in her mouth. Their mission complete, they trotted back to Sango who had promised to keep the bottle safe.

Minutes later, Kagome and Shippo sat alone at the edge of camp, watching as everyone else settled down for the night.

"That was gross," Shippo muttered, still rubbing his palms on his hakama. Kagome growled in agreement. It was then that Shippo remembered what else he had to do. It was time Kagome learnt the truth about this curse.

"Kagome?"

The golden fox looked up, surprised by his solemn tone. Shippo glanced hesitantly at her.  
"There's…something you need to know."

Kagome blinked, "What is it?"

Shippo took a deep breath, "I think this is a full-powered curse."

"Meaning?" Kagome raised a furry eyebrow.

Shippo screwed his eyes shut. It was now or never. She had to know.

"You're starting to become more like a fox!"

"What?" her yelp was loud enough to attract attention, but luckily no one came running to see what the problem was, "What do you mean, Shippo?"

"Don't you see? When you first changed your sense of smell wasn't as good as it is now! It's been almost three days and you can't read human writing anymore! And I saw you stalking that rat the other day! Don't you get it, Kagome? The more time passes while you're in this form, the more you're turning into a real fox! Soon you won't even recognise us!" Shippo suddenly feel silent, a little stunned by his outburst.

Kagome was staring at him, her eyes filled with horror. She wasn't sure what to say to him. Was he right? Was she truly becoming more like a fox? She _had_ tried to eat that rat the other day…and her sense of smell _was_ getting better – not to mention not being able to read. Cold fear began to flow in her veins.

"Th-that…that can't be…" she whimpered, but she knew that it was, "How can this happen? Oh, Shippo, what can we do?"

The fox demon backed away from her desperate gaze, "I don't…I don't know…"

"Wh-what's going to happen to me?" Kagome whimpered, her body trembling.

Shippo looked away, "The more days pass…the more fox-like you're going to become. Until, eventually, you'll be no more than a wild animal."

Kagome's eyes widened, "That can't be! I'd never let that happen!"

"There's nothing you can do…" Shippo whispered, tears pooling in his eyes. He stared at the ground.

Kagome felt like crying. Her chest ached and her eyes stung, but no tears fell. Her body trembled and she whispered an anxious question.

"How long do I have?"

Shippo looked pityingly at her and shook his head, "I don't know, Kagome. I don't know."

For Kagome, it felt as though the sky had just come crashing down upon her. All she could do was curl up in a ball and hope – hope that there was still a chance; still time to fix things.

Shippo curled up beside her, and she wrapped her tail around him. He buried his face in her fur, needing as much comfort as she did.

"Ka-Kagome?"

"Yes?"

"I want to try and use fox magic to get Miwa and Kazuo to come. Fox demons are experts on curses - if anyone can help, it's Aunt Kazuo. I-I'm not exactly an expert on curses, I might be wrong."

"Oh, okay," Kagome sighed. A gleam of hope sparked in heart. '_Please, let them be able to help.'_

"Shippo?"

"Yes?"

"D-don't tell the others," she begged, "at least not yet."

"Why?" Shippo asked, confused.

"They worry about me so much – imagine Inuyasha's reaction! He needs to rest now! Sesshomaru nearly killed him! We can't let him start r-rushing around! However much he spurts invulnerability garbage, he's just being a complete _idiot_!" Kagome felt close to tears. She turned her gaze away from the fox demon, closing her eyes.

"But Kagome, we don't have time to wait!" Shippo protested, "We don't even know how long we have!"

"I won't let him hurt himself anymore!"

"He's tough, you know that!"

"That doesn't mean he's invulnerable!" Kagome yelped back, not noticing the figure that was approaching.

"Don't have time until what?" a new voice asked, piercing through the argument. Kagome jumped in surprise.

The two looked to see Sango walking towards them. The demon slayer considered them curiously as she knelt in front of them.

"I came for the blood, to put it with the hair," she told them.

"Oh, uh, yes." Kagome grabbed the small jar in her mouth, and dropped it into Sango's outreached hand.

"Now," pocketing the bottle, Sango crossed her arms and sat down, leaning against a tree, "what were you talking about?"

Kagome and Shippo looked at each other. Kagome yipped something.

"She says she'll tell you, but she doesn't want you to tell any of the others," Shippo translated, a little hesitantly. Sango raised an eyebrow.

"Well, okay," she replied, "I if I decide it's not urgent and that the others don't need to know, I will refrain from telling the others what you tell me."

Shippo looked at Kagome questioningly, and she sighed, "That's the best we're going to get. Tell her."

"Okay then," the fox demon sighed and turned to the demon slayer, "Sango, what do you know about demon transformation curses?"

Sango tapped her chin thoughtfully, "well, some men went out to slay a fox demon one – sorry Shippo – that had been wreaking havoc on a nearby village and father's friend's son got turned into a dog. He stayed with his family until, well, until the village got burned down."

"Umm…You see…that was probably a pretty weak curse," Shippo stared at the ground, tracing patterns in the dirt.

Sango tilted her head slightly, "and?"

"Well, you see-,"

"What!" Sango gasped once Shippo had explained everything to her. She sat back, her face pale and stunned.

Shippo chewed his lip anxiously, "And that's it. I don't know how long we have or even if it's full power or not, but Kagome can understand fox-tongue, and she can't read – she says she can't even remember what letters are supposed to look like!"

"Thank you, Shippo," Kagome whispered, grateful that he hadn't mentioned the rat. Shippo gave the tiniest nod in reply.

"So that's what happened earlier!" Sango exclaimed, remembering when Kagome had yelped and started tearing at her chemistry book.

Kagome nodded and gave an affirmative yelp.

Sango sighed, "Oh Kagome, you can just tell them!"

But Kagome looked down and stubbornly shook her head.

Sango sighed again, "If you don't want them to know, that's your choice. But…" she pulled Kagome closer and forced her to look her in the eyes, "we will find a way to fix this, you have to believe that."

Kagome diverted her gaze, but Sango simply moved her head to remain in her gaze, "we will fix this, agreed?"

Kagome moved her head to look away again, but Sango put a hand under her chin and forced the miko to look at her once again, "Agreed?"

Kagome finally gave in and nodded. Sango stared sternly at her.

"Say it."

Kagome took a deep breath, "We will fix this."

Sango nodded, positive from the miko-turned-vixen's tone that she had done as she insisted.

She released the fox, "Hold on to that, and don't forget it."

"Sango," Kagome sighed and smiled as best she could, "thanks."

Shippo was about to translate, but Sango held her hand up, "No need, Shippo, it's obvious. You're welcome, Kagome."

The demon slayer stood up stiffly, "Come on, I set up a blanket for you to sleep on, Kagome."

Kagome nodded and followed Sango to where a blanket lay folded into a neat square, as to grant her as much padding as possible. Another blanket lay beside it, ready to cover her.

Kagome curled up and Shippo leaned against her as Sango covered the two of them with the second blanket.

"Thanks again, Sango," Kagome murmured as she fell into a restless sleep. Sango merely smiled and turned away.

Kagome stalked closer to the rat. _Almost there..._The rat would make fine prey. She stalked closer, one foot up, the other inching closer. She leant down to spring, tail down, but not far enough to brush the dried leaves and give her away. Her haunches bunched as she prepared her body, eyes focused on the rat.

The rat looked up from the nut it was gnawing on and glanced around warily. Kagome froze stock still, not moving a muscle, obscured by ferns. She waited patiently until the time to strike.

A moment later the rat looked down and continued its gnawing. _Good._

Crouching down, _lower, lower, now!_ She pounced, one paw slammed down on the small rodent, crushing the lower half of its spine. Her head flashed forward and she bit down on the rat's neck, not even giving it time to squeal a last scream of fear before it died. She picked it up by the neck, ready to take it to her den to eat in peace.

It hung limply from her jaws. Its eyes lacked life and spirit as it stared blankly at nothing.

A human voice pierced the forest, "Kagome, Kagome where are you?"

A figure that smelled of dog entered the clearing where Kagome was. Instantly she felt defensive, her jaws tightening around the limp body of her prey. The figure stared at her.

"Kagome, what have you done?"

Kagome looked down to see that she had not caught a rat, but rather a grubby white and brown cat. Her eyes widened in horror.

_Buyo!_

"No, _no_!" Kagome dropped the cat and ran in no particular direction. She had to get away. She heard Inuyasha chasing her and her instincts kicked in.

'_Hound!' _her conscience screamed,_ 'Run!'_

She ran until she ran straight into a wolf and wondered how she could not have noticed it before. It snarled at her and took a step forward. She tried to back away.

But a tailed figure stood and announced, "Help yourselves."

"Koga!" Kagome screamed, fear pounding in her veins, "It's me! It's Kagome!"

"Liar!" the wolf demon spat bitterly, "You don't act like Kagome!"

The wolves chased her, until she was trapped between them and Inuyasha. Dogs, wolves, predators. Fear filled her. She wanted to run, but she had nowhere to escape to.

"Kagome?" said the half dog demon, "Are you okay?"

"Leave me alone!" she shrieked, screwing her eyes shut.

"Hey, mutt!"

Koga appeared and he and Inuyasha began to fight. But the fight didn't last. Inuyasha fell suddenly and lay dead onto the forest floor. How could Koga have beaten him so easily? Or…had he…?

"_No! No! NO!" _Kagome yelled as the wolves began to crouch, not unlike she had done in preparation of pouncing on Buyo. She could see their fangs glinting in the light; she saw them pounce and felt the wind rush towards her. Their claws reached out to pierce her tiny body. She couldn't run.

"Kagome! Kagome, wake up!"

Kagome jerked up, splaying her blankets everywhere and subconsciously crouched, baring her teeth in a snarl as her tail waved back and forth. Shippo stared at her, leaning away from her snarling jaws.

"Kagome…just a dream," he whimpered, "It was just a dream!"

Kagome blinked and shuddered. She lay back down and looked around. Inuyasha was in a nearby tree, safe and breathing deeply, while Koga and Buyo nowhere to be found, as they should be. Her heart slowed its frantic pounding.

"Just a dream, only a dream," Kagome whispered, trying to convince herself. She curled up in a tight ball and, still panting heavily, slowly fell back into sleep.

Shippo, after fixing the bedding as well as he could without waking her, fell asleep once again. But the dream repeated itself for Kagome, but this time the rat turned into Kirara. After waking up a second time, and waking Shippo again, she decided to leave the bedding for the young demon. Shippo was too tired to object.

Kagome found a large hole under the roots of the tree Inuyasha was sleeping in and curled up in it. Somehow, being in an enclosed space soothed her. She felt less vulnerable here. With that thought, Kagome fell into a dark and dreamless sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

**9.**

Kagome woke up feeling very cramped. Her head was tucked up close to her tail and her legs were pinned beneath her underbelly. Blinking, she turned her head to look around and saw that she was surrounded by earth and roots on all sides. A spot of light shone through the roots – the entrance to her little hole.

'_Did I sleep here?_' she wondered, standing up and crawling back out into the open.

Once outside, Kagome stretched her cramped limbs and looked back at the hole. It looked a whole lot less inviting than it had last night and she wondered what had come over her. An anxious feeling settled in her gut.

"My fox instincts," she muttered to herself, "They must be getting stronger."

Shaking her head, Kagome turned back to the camp to see if anyone else had noticed. But they were all still asleep, to her relief. The morning sun cast a vibrant light over the forest as Kagome considered her group of friends. Shippo was still curled up in the little bed of blankets that Kagome had left last night. Sango slept beside Kirara, curled up in the large cat demon's two tails. Miroku sat upright against the trunk of a tree, his head bowed in sleep.

With some amusement, Kagome noticed that her modern day friends had curled up together in a small pile. They were snoring softly in a tangle of arms, legs and blankets. At least they had been able to sleep without any worries.

"Awake already?" said a voice, and Kagome jumped.

She looked up quickly to see Inuyasha had just awoken and was gazing down at her from his position in the tree. The half-demon leapt gracefully from the branch to land right in front of the golden-furred fox. Kagome stared at him. There were still splotches of blood on his undershirt – remnants of his battle the previous day. She watched as he retrieved his robe of the fire rat from the branch he had left it on last night.

"So what's next on the list?" Inuyasha asked, sitting down beside her, "What do we need to find now?"

Kagome leant against his leg. He didn't know. He had no idea what the curse was doing to her. She hoped it could stay that way. She never wanted him to find out. Sighing, she rested her head on his knee. Surprised, Inuyasha reached out to place a hand on her small furry back.

"Hey. You ok?"

Kagome could only nod.

"We'll get you changed back," Inuyasha said to her, "I promise.

'_I hope so._'

It wasn't long before the rest of their group woke up. Ayumi, Eri and Yuka woke up flustered, as usual, before they remembered where they were. Upon noticing the fox Kagome leaning against Inuyasha's leg, the three girls exchanged smirks. But Kagome had other things on her mind. Her eyes met Shippo as he woke from his slumber and he nodded wordlessly. He glanced at Sango and she nodded.

Taking a deep breath, Shippo strode over to the half-demon.

"Inuyasha. I want to call Aunt Kazuo and Uncle Miwa over here." He waited anxiously for Inuyasha's response.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

Shippo hesitated, "I think they can help with the curse. They're fox demons, you know, and we know a lot about curses. They might be able to help us!"

Inuyasha snorted, "Feh. We're doing fine already, aren't we? Whatever. Call them over if you want. Just make sure they don't hinder us. We want to get Kagome changed back as soon as possible!"

Shippo turned away, muttering under his breath, "You have no idea."

Miroku looked on curiously, "How are you going to call them over?"

"Fox magic," the young fox demon answered quickly.

Eri and Yuka exchanged glances, "Magic? Magic isn't real!"

Kagome sighed and thought to herself, '_You'd think after everything they've seen here, they'd be more willing to accept the unexpected_.'

"Quiet please!" Shippo called, and everyone quickly shut up.

Standing in the centre of the camp, Shippo raised his hands to the sky and closed his eyes. He was aware of everyone watching him, but tried not to let it distract him. Kagome watched curiously. A small ball of fox fire began to materialise between Shippo's outstretched hands. It grew bigger, the blue flames curling and entwining around each other, lighting Shippo's face eerily. The young fox demon took a deep breath and concentrated.

'_Aunt Kazuo? Uncle Miwa? Can you hear me?_'

He waited for several moments and almost lost hope, until he felt another presence tugging at his consciousness. Words echoed in his mind. It was as though he could feel those words, rather than hear them.

'_Shippo? Is that you?_'

A female. Shippo gave a sigh of relief.

'_Aunt Kazuo! It's me!_'

'_Shippo! It's good to hear from you again. But why have you contacted us in this way?_'

Shippo could feel the concern in her voice. He could also feel Inuyasha and the others staring at him and the connection wavered slightly. But he held tight to it and focused.

'_We…have a problem. Kagome has been cursed, Aunt Kazuo! Please, we need your help!_'

'_Oh, Shippo! How did this happen?_'

Shippo trembled, his arms shaking from the effort of holding them skyward for so long.

'_Please, Aunt Kazuo! Just come! I can't hold this for much longer! Please come and help us! Please…_'

The voice seemed fainter now, as though it was barely there.

'_We're coming, Shippo. Don't worry. We're coming…_'

With a gasp, Shippo let his hands fall back to his sides. The fox fire above him dissipated quickly, the tongues of blue flame disappearing into the air. The young fox demon panted and rubbed at his eyes. Quite suddenly he realised Kagome was beside him. She stared anxiously at him.

"Did it work?" she asked, her voice pleading.

With a tired smile, Shippo nodded, "They're on their way."

"Well done, Shippo," Sango praised, though she wasn't entirely sure what had happened. Inuyasha was less subtle about it.

"What the heck was that?" the half-demon asked, raising a sceptical eyebrow. Shippo rolled his eyes.

"Fox magic," he said in a very derogative tone. Inuyasha bristled with annoyance.

He looked as though he was about to reprimand Shippo, perhaps with another strike to the head, when there came two sudden popping sounds. The whole group jumped in surprise as two puffs of smoke materialised in the centre of their camp. When the smoke cleared there were two humans standing there. No – not humans – these were demons in human form. Fox demons to be exact.

"Shippo!" Kazuo cried, her long dark hair flying out as she ran to the young fox demon and pulled him into a hug.

Inuyasha's mouth fell open, "What the…how did you get here so fast?"

The rusty-haired Miwa glanced stoically at him and answered shortly, "Fox magic."

Inuyasha's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Kagome had to stifle a giggle. She glanced at the two humanoid fox demons. They looked just the same as they had when she first met them. Kazuo was a beautiful demoness with ivory skin and long ebony hair. Two tapered dark grey ears protruded from the top of her head. A long emerald gown flowed to the ground and hid her feet.

Miwa, on the other hand, was stocky and muscled. He was barely taller than Kazuo and had rust-red hair, much the same colour as Shippo's. His garment was green too, and the ears that poked out from his scruffy hair were rusty orange. He stood with his arms folded, looking both stern and indifferent.

"I-it's good to see you, Aunt Kazuo," Shippo gasped, struggling out of her suffocating hug.

The motherly fox demon let him go and looked around until her eyes settled on Kagome. She looked stunned for a moment before kneeling down and placing a hand on the golden fox's head.

"That's Kagome…" Shippo confirmed anxiously.

"Oh my," Kazuo murmured, "This curse is…"

Inuyasha scowled, "Look, do you think you can help her or not?"

Kazuo stood up, "It's hard to say. From the looks of it, this curse is-."

Shippo quickly cleared his throat and Kazuo broke off to look at him. He quickly spoke to her in fox-tongue, much to everyone's confusion. Only Kagome and Miwa could understand the conversation going on between Shippo and Kazuo. Sango had a feeling she knew what they were saying, though.

"Now what's going on?" Inuyasha growled, feeling very annoyed at being left in the dark.

The modern day trio were staring at the two new arrivals as though they were aliens. Of course, to them, they might as well be.

"Do they have ears?" Yuka whispered. Eri and Ayumi nodded.

"Like Inuyasha," Ayumi whispered back, "Do you think they're dog demons too?"

"I think they're foxes," Eri said, "They said something about fox magic. Do you think they can help Kagome?"

"I hope so," Yuka and Ayumi murmured together.

Kazuo suddenly turned to the group, "I'm sorry, but I must talk with Shippo and Kagome alone."

Inuyasha didn't seem pleased about that, "Why? What's wrong with speaking to them with us here?"

The motherly fox-demon smiled apologetically, "I may be able to perform a spell to understand what sort of curse has affected poor Kagome. However, with everyone here, your presence may intervene and disrupt it. We won't be long."

Inuyasha wanted to protest, but he said nothing as Kazuo led Shippo and Kagome away. Miwa sat down and crossed his arms, his emerald eyes daring the others not to do the same. Everyone else sat down quickly, but Inuyasha hesitated.

"Leave them be," the fox demon muttered gruffly, "Kazuo knows what she's doing."

With a reluctant sigh, Inuyasha sat down and waited.

In a nearby clearing Kagome paced anxiously, her tail and ears twitching back and forth nervously.

"Child, calm down," Kazuo murmured soothingly, before snapping her fingers. A shimmering barrier flickered momentarily around the clearing before vanishing.

"That will keep our conversation private," she said before snapping her fingers again. A minuscule ball of light flickered into being above their heads, "And that will warn us of any intruders."

"Aunt Kazuo was always one of the best at spells," Shippo told Kagome happily, his hopes rising already. Kagome smiled weakly.

"So, Kagome, first things first," Kazuo said kindly, "What happened and what have you experienced since? Leave _nothing_ out; this is important."

Kagome explained everything, from the pain of the transformation, to stalking the rat, to her reoccurring nightmares. Shippo occasionally popped in with things she had left out or forgotten.

"Ah, I see. This smells of fox magic, though how some off-continent boar demon could get his hands on it is be on me," Kazuo frowned, troubled.

"If it's fox magic, does that mean you can fix it?" Shippo asked hopefully.

The motherly fox demon rested a hand on her cheek thoughtfully, "Possibly. Kagome, may I have a few strands of fur please?"

"Um, okay," Kagome replied, a little confused, "I don't think I can grab it myself though. Shippo, could you?"

"Okay," Shippo obliged, a little nervously, and moved over to her. Careful not to pull on the fur, as this would hurt her, he pinched the base of a few hairs between his fingers. It took the tiniest amount of fox fire on the tip of his fir to burn through the fragile hairs, and they came cleanly away.

Kagome wrinkled her nose at the smell of singed fur, but was glad he hadn't just plucked them. Shippo scampered back to Kazuo and held the hairs out to her. She carefully took them and withdrew a small glass jar from a hidden pocket in her kimono. A deep purple liquid swirled inside the jar, much to Kagome's interest. Kazuo dropped the hairs into the solution and waited.

The hairs quickly dissolved and the purple liquid rippled and morphed to a dark blue colour.

"What is that?" asked Kagome curiously.

Kazuo peered closely at the now blue solution, "I grabbed it before I left. It's the quickest way to tell the strength of a curse."

Kagome released a dry foxy laugh, "So this is the complicated spell their presence will interfere with?"

She realised in a way that she was stalling, afraid of the answer that was soon to come – the reason why they had separated from the others in the first place.

"Well, what else would we have done? Continue conversing in fox-tongue would only raise their suspicions," Kazuo replied dryly, "and Shippo informs me you don't wish the others to know the full extent of this curse."

Kagome didn't reply to that. Instead she just asked, "So, it turned blue. What does that mean?"

Kazuo sighed and let her hand fall, looking away from the blue solution, "It is a full-powered curse, though rather sloppily done."

Worry clawed at Kagome's chest, "and what does that mean for me?"

"I can not cure it," Kazuo replied gravely, "Shippo's original hypothesis is on the most part correct, though not entirely so."

"Okay, I'll bite," Kagome sighed, "How is it different?"

"You'll bite?" asked a confused Kazuo "why would you bite, child?"

"It's just one of her weird sayings," said Shippo impatiently, eager to continue and learn his friend's fate, "Like 'raining cats and dogs'. That one really annoyed Inuyasha."

Deciding to ask Kagome about it later, Kazuo continued, "So, this boar demon was quite sloppy with the curse and this for one means that, though you will steadily become more fox-like, you will not lose your memory. Although, your memories may be confusing to the mind of a fox."

"Okay…" Kagome murmured, not entirely sure of the implications of this. It _seemed_ better than she had thought.

"And the sloppiness also means that I should be able to create a potion that, if you drink before sleep, should prevent the curse from progressing as you sleep. This will greatly slow down the process."

"That's good!" Kagome said, relieved.

"I can not determine the exact strength of the original spell," Kazuo said, shaking her head slowly, "but I can guarantee that you will last at least a month or two, possibly more."

"Wait, a month?" All her hopes suddenly fell like stones into her gut, "I don't know if we can get everything for the antidote by then!"

"If it is acceptable, we will travel with you," Kazuo suggested, considering the golden fox anxiously, "We will have to return to get Akira. I must make the potion each night, you see. It only works fresh."

Kagome chewed her lip anxiously, "Are you sure? It will be dangerous, and Akira is young."

The orb of light above their heads shimmered suddenly. Someone approached.

"Akira can handle herself," A voice stated stiffly as Miwa entered the clearing, "I've taught her that much. She is no younger than Shippo."

Kagome stared at him for a moment, wondering how he got through the barrier. Perhaps Kazuo's barrier didn't work on other fox demons. At last she sighed and turned to glance at Shippo.

"I suppose you're right," she mumbled to Miwa.

Kagome looked pleadingly at Kazuo, "Either way, I'd be…grateful if you would stay. If you can help me…then please do. I don't want…"

The young miko turned her foxy head away with a sigh, her voice trailing off. Kazuo considered her with both pity and concern on her motherly face.

"I don't want to be a fox forever," Kagome whispered at last, her furry shoulders trembling.

Shippo placed a comforting paw on her side, "We'll fix this, Kagome. Won't we, Aunt Kazuo?"

Kazuo smiled sadly, "We'll do our best."

Miwa nodded stiffly. Kagome closed her eyes as they stung with tears. She was afraid, there was no other emotion to describe the way she felt. She'd faced demons of all shapes and forms – even the terrifying Naraku. But nothing compared to the feeling she felt right now. This was one battle that she had no control over – and it was happening inside her own body. She was helpless.

'_Please. Let this be fixable. I just want to be myself again. That's all I ask for. To be me._'


	10. Chapter 10

**10.**

"So what's happening?" Inuyasha asked, the moment Kagome and the fox family returned.

Kazuo glanced at Kagome hesitantly and replied, "The curse is fox magic. We will be travelling with you from here on, in the hope they we may be of assistance. I trust that is not against your wishes."

The half demon didn't look pleased, but his face softened when he saw Kagome's helpless expression. He turned away from Kazuo and muttered, "If it will help Kagome…I won't object."

Kazuo nodded, "Very well. Miwa?"

The male fox demon nodded stoically, and Kazuo bowed respectfully to the rest of the group.

"We must return for Akira. We shall return soon," and with two distinct popping sounds, the two fox demons disappeared in identical puffs of smoke.

Kagome stared gratefully at the half demon, '_Thankyou, Inuyasha._'

While waiting for the return of the fox family, the gang sat down together to discuss their next plan of action. Kagome repeated the antidote poem several times, Shippo translating, until Miroku and Sango had it entirely memorised. Inuyasha didn't seem bothered to remember the lines, though.

One particular line stuck in their heads, "A fragment of fang from a beast the great dog fought." Sango repeated the line and exchanged a glance with Miroku.

"The great dog," the monk mused, thoughtfully, "Could that mean…?"

Several gazes turned to Inuyasha, except for Ayumi, Eri and Yuka, who were as clueless as ever. Inuyasha scowled and stared at the ground.

"My old man," he muttered, "It has to be."

"Well," Sango folded her arms, "We know of one beast that your father fought."

"But I already destroyed Ryukotsusei!" Inuyasha argued, and Kagome's ears drooped in dismay.

"Maybe so," Miroku interrupted, always the thinker, "but the poem states we only need a fragment of its fang. Perhaps enough remains at the place where you destroyed it…"

Inuyasha remained sceptical, "I blew that bastard to bits. The chances of finding anything left of it are next to none."

Kagome uttered a worried whine, and the half-demon quickly added, "But…it can't hurt to try."

Sango smiled, "That's the spirit. Maybe we'll strike lucky."

Yuka interrupted curiously, "So what is this Ryu-whatever thing?"

Shippo waved a dismissive hand, "He was just a huge dragon that mortally wounded Inuyasha's father a few hundred years ago. Inuyasha blew him to bits a while ago with Tetsusaiga."

Eri gaped, "A-a _dragon_?"

"Sure," Shippo said innocently, "Dragons aren't _that _uncommon. Sesshomaru once stole an arm from a dragon and used it to attack Inuyasha."

Yuka turned very white, "Stole…an _arm_?"

"You sure get up to strange things," Ayumi pondered thoughtfully.

Shippo took that as an invitation. He was only too eager to tell a few stories to a new audience.

"Oh yeah, we do all sorts of stuff! Fighting demons, saving villages, hunting Naraku…" Shippo grinned, "And it's all connected to the sacred jewel. Did you know Kagome once got possessed by the sacred jewel?"

Kagome blanched, '_Shippo! Not a good idea!_'

But it was too late. The faces of Kagome's modern friends had paled to white. Eri's mouth hung open.

"She was _what_!" she and Yuka yelped at the same time.

"Yeah. The jewel shards turned black and sort of…went inside her," Shippo gestured to his neck, "right here."

Yuka gagged, but Shippo seemed completely oblivious to his audience's discomfort. Kagome groaned and thudded her forehead into the ground. Her friends were never going to look at her the same again. If only Shippo could refrain from freaking them out too much…

"…and she was trying to kill Inuyasha and everything,' the fox demon was saying. Ayumi's face was chalk white and she looked like she was about to faint.

"Kagome would never kill anyone!" Eri shrieked, eyes wide.

"Well she was possessed at the time…"

"By _what_?" Yuka yelped.

Shippo answered matter-of-factly, "A priestess."

Kagome groaned. So much for that. A sudden popping sound alerted her to the return of Kazuo and her family. A little female fox demon came bounding past her and leapt at Shippo with arms outstretched.

"Shippo!" the little fox girl cried, almost flatting him.

Shippo fell over onto his tail, laughing, "Hi, Akira!"

"Long time no see, huh?" Akira replied, putting her hands on her hips. She gave Shippo a friendly punch that made him wince.

Kagome considered the young vixen. Akira was just as she remembered her to be – a raven-haired child with the lower half of a grey-furred fox and a large fluffy grey tail just like Shippo's. Her hair was arranged in pig tails, like always, and her grey ears poked straight up out of her hair.

"Akira. It's good to see you," Kagome said, and Akira turned in surprise.

"Kagome? So mamma and da were right!" the young vixen sounded almost thrilled, "You _are _a fox!"

"That's enough, Akira," Miwa said gruffly, folding his arms and glancing disapprovingly at his small daughter, "She cannot help what has been done to her. We are here to help."

"I know," Akira mumbled innocently, "I'm just saying."

Kazuo looked around the clearing, pausing briefly to notice that the three girls in strange clothing were looking a little stunned.

"Well, it seems we are all here," the motherly fox stated, with a glance at Inuyasha, "Shall we…?"

"Right," The half-demon swung Kagome's yellow backpack over his shoulder, "Let's get going."  
When the group was finally ready to set out, the modern age girls, still confused and muttering to each other, clambered onto Kirara's back. Inuyasha offered to carry Kagome once again, as though the weight of her oversized backpack was hardly even a hindrance.

With Shippo translating she replied, "No thank you, I need to work on moving."

'_Gosh, that sounds pathetic,_' she thought, and said aloud, "What if Naraku attacks us? You can't carry me then, and I'd rather not get stung."  
"Wait," Eri interjected, as Shippo translated those words, "Naraku can sting?"  
"Nope," Shippo replied cheerily, "just his poison insects."  
Kagome would have slapped her forehead if she could.  
The girls stared at him. "Insects…?" they whispered shakily.  
"Feh," Inuyasha scoffed, "They're just overgrown bees with issues!"  
Miroku rubbed the back of his head, messing up the back of his black hair, "I wouldn't say that, Inuyasha."  
Inuyasha scoffed again, "Just because you can't just suck them up don't mean they're hard to beat."  
"Can we get going, now?" said Kagome quickly, eager not to have too much explained to her modern day friends. They were panicked enough as it was. Kirara was just standing there with the three modern girls on her back, looking a little irritable. Kagome felt slightly sorry for the demon cat.  
Though Kagome's tone made it clear what she wanted, Shippo translated her words none the less and the group finally set off on a brisk pace. Kagome was still having an impossible time on all fours when Akira, with a loud sudden pop and a flash of blue foxfire, changed into her fox form.  
She walked up beside Kagome, lifting her paws daintily with each step.

"It helps if you keep your tail up a bit," she said, in the common tongue rather than fox-tongue, "and try to keep your back legs a little farther apart."  
Slightly surprised, but grateful none the less, Kagome complied and found that, though she often forgot to hold her tail up, it didn't catch in her back legs as much.  
"Lift your paws up a bit more," the young vixen suggested as Kagome tripped over nothing, "If you don't, your claws will just get caught."  
Kagome nodded gratefully and continued to trundle along, falling significantly less and eventually able to keep up with Inuyasha even when he was running. A few hours later they were travelling along a forest path when Kagome stopped. Akira, who had been walking beside Kagome in her human for and dropping occasional tips, stopped too. They stared into the bushes on the side of the path.  
"I thought I smelled something," Kagome muttered, but shook her head when she saw nothing. But just then a furry face poked out of the bushes.  
A small foxy face peered at them inquisitively, its bright violet eyes stopping to rest on Kagome. Two huge obsidian black ears pivoted to point at her, while its furry tan snout wrinkled slightly as though sniffing. Though it was an odd thing to notice, Kagome did notice that there was a streak of black fur on the tip of its muzzle. The strange foxish demon trotted confidently out in the path, completely ignoring Inuyasha's threatening glare and grip on Tetsusaiga. Kagome saw that its body was mottled with smooth tan and black fur.  
The strange demon walked right up to Kagome and sniffed, as though trying to catch her scent. A confused Kagome backed away.

"Excuse me, miss," The fox-like demon said politely in perfect Japanese, "but can you please tell me - was it a large pig demon that cursed you?"  
Kagome stared. Everyone else stared. Even Kirara stared. Shippo's and Akira's mouths were wide enough to catch flies.  
"And who might you be?" Inuyasha growled threateningly, withdrawing Tetsusaiga from its sheath. The blade quickly flashed and was revealed in its full glory. Sango put one hand on Hiraikotsu warily and Kirara crouched, causing the modern trio to yelp and grab at her mane.  
The new demon, clearly unimpressed, yawned and sat back on his haunches. He raised one heavily-clawed three-toed forepaw and gave it a cursory lick, causing the black hairs to stand on end.

"My name is Hayato," he said easily, as he raised his paw and drawing it over his large ear. His fan-like ear was pushed down over one eye for a moment before it popped back up.  
The half-demon, clearly irritated by Hayato's dismissive behaviour, snarled, "How the hell do you know about Kagome?"  
The jackal-like demon grinned, "Well, unless the idiot pig that stole my spell-scroll managed to lose it already, I don't really see how else there could be a cursed fox that smells just like that scroll standing right here in front of me. Do you?"

Inuyasha faltered, "I…what?"

Everyone else looked equally bemused, especially Kagome, who was wondering what he meant by 'spell-scroll'. Hayato looked around the group, taking note of their confusion, and heaved a resigned sigh.

"I've never seen a demon look so clueless," he muttered, scrutinising Inuyasha closely, "That is to say – half-demon. Seems I'll have to explain myself."

"Well be quick about it," Inuyasha snapped, a little sore about the half-demon remark. His grip on Tetsusaiga didn't waver, but Hayato payed the sword no attention.

"I come from a far away continent – a place known as Africa." the jackal demon began to explain, "I, you see, am a demon born between a jackal and a fox.

For many years it has been my duty to protect a special scroll – a scroll written and imbued with fox magic. However, recently, that scroll was stolen from me. The culprit? An imbecilic pig demon who called himself Chokyukai!"

'_Guess that explains how Chokyukai was able to use fox magic,_' Kagome thought wryly.

"I followed that disgusting pig here," Hayato continued, "and have been tracking the scent of the scroll ever since. Strangely enough, the scent led me instead to you. No doubt you have been a victim of this foolish pig's tampering with magic that is not his to wield. Tell me, am I correct?"

"Y-yes," Kagome stuttered, shying away from his bright, inquisitive violet eyes, "It was Chokyukai who cursed me. I'd be a human girl right now if it wasn't for him."

"I see, so I was right," Hayato looked her over for a moment and then returned his gaze to Inuyasha, "Tell me, half-demon, where is Chokyukai now?"

Inuyasha snorted, hefting Tetsusaiga dangerously, "He's dead. I blew him to bits. I don't suppose you want to join him?"

Hayato's ear twitched. His eyes narrowed.

"You what?" he snarled dangerously.

"I killed him," Inuyasha growled back, "Why? Didn't think he was a friend of yours."

"You idiot!" the hairs on Hayato's back stood on end, "Did you even stop to think about my scroll before you destroyed him?"

"Listen you, I didn't know about your scroll, so you can back off! What was I supposed to do? Let him get away? Hah, as if I'd let that idiot pig get away after doing this to Kagome!"

"Well if you'd let him go, at least my scroll would still be intact!" Hayato yelled.

"Not my problem!"

"Enough!" Kagome screamed suddenly, though it came out as more of a strangled yelp. Both Inuyasha and Hayato froze as though turned to stone.

Breathing heavily with anger, Kagome muttered, "That's enough! This isn't helping! Either of you! Hayato, is it? Well, Hayato, I'm sorry about your scroll, but there's nothing we can do about it now. Please try not to irritate Inuyasha. It'll only make things worse."

Hayato sat back, a look of shame crossing his face as he replied, "Forgive me, miss, I let my anger get out of hand."

Inuyasha, meanwhile, was wondering what Kagome had just told the fox-jackal demon. He looked to Shippo for answers, but the fox demon shook his head with a frown. Inuyasha took that to mean that her words, whatever they had been, were not directed towards him. He was wrong of course.

"Damn right you did," the half-demon snapped, believing Kagome was on his side, "How was I supposed to know about your stupid scroll?"

"Inuyasha," Kagome hissed dangerously, and the half-demon went rigid at her tone of voice.

"What?" he whimpered, "It's not my fault this guy lost his stupid scroll. If you ask me, it's his fault you were cursed in the first place!"

"Sit boy!"

Inuyasha didn't need a translation for those words. His sudden meeting with the ground was enough explanation. Mumbling curse words under his breath, the half-demon raised his face out of the dirt. Hayato looked on, bemused.

"It wasn't his fault!" Kagome snapped at Inuyasha, but before Shippo could translate, Hayato cut in.

"No. I am afraid the half-demon is right in this instance," Hayato sighed morosely, guilt in his eyes, "If I had not let my guard down, Chokyukai would not have stolen my scroll and you would not be cursed like this. Forgive me, miss. I have done you an injustice."

"Kagome," she said suddenly, "my name is Kagome. And I don't blame you for what happened. It was Chokyukai who used the spell on me, not you."

"And yet it was my scroll that gave him the ability to use such a spell," Hayato cut in gently, "Please, Kagome, do not try to convince me of my innocence. I have done wrong and I wish to make it right again. Will you allow me to do that?"

"Don't…listen to him," Inuyasha grumbled, his face smeared with dirt. Kagome shot him a glare.

"What would you do?" she asked Hayato hopefully, "Can you…fix the curse?"

"Alas," Hayato shook his head, "That I can not do. However, this particular curse must have an antidote. I remember myself – the antidote was part of the curse itself. Chokyukai must have spoken it when he cursed you!"

"Y-yes, we're on our way to collect the ingredients for the antidote," Kagome stuttered, surprised.

"Then allow me to accompany you!" Hayato insisted, "It is the least I can do!"

Kagome hesitated, "I…well…"

She glanced behind her, meeting the eyes of all of her friends. Shippo shrugged, but Kazuo and Miwa nodded slowly as though they thought it was a good idea. The trio of modern schoolgirls were just staring at Hayato. Unlike the other demons they had met so far, Hayato looked just like a regular wild dog. And, somehow, that made the fact that he could speak perfect Japanese a whole lot weirder.

"Well," Kagome mulled over it for a few moments, "Alright, then. I guess I have to accept all the help I can get."

"What's she saying?" Inuyasha hissed to Shippo, dusting dirt off his robes.

"She's saying she's going to accept his help," the young fox demon replied. Inuyasha stiffened.

"Kagome, do you really think this is a good idea?" he asked, but she ignored him.

Hayato gave a short, shallow bow, "thankyou, Kagome. I will do all in my power to assist you in lifting this curse."

Inuyasha snorted, but Kagome quickly thanked the jackal-like demon.

With introductions made, the group finally started again along the forest path. Hayato walked next to Kagome, listening to her recount of what happened to her and her request for him not to tell the others of the full extent of the curse. Inuyasha never took his glare off the jackal-fox, pointedly and quite obviously showing his opinion of the new member of their group.

The others ambled along in silence, the fox demons silently listening to Hayato and Kagome, the others simply doing their best not to fall under Inuyasha's steel-eyed glare.

The rest of the day passed in that same awkward discomfort. It wore them all down until, finally, a tired and exasperated Kagome suggested stopping for the afternoon in a large clearing with several towering, spike-like rocks.

Besides Inuyasha, the others agreed hurriedly. Hayato immediately jumped onto a smooth ledge on one of the towering rocks and lay down, folding his two forepaws under him and letting his tail fall down over the edge where it slowly waved backwards and forwards.

Kagome sighed and went to sit by her modern age friends, who had been uncharacteristically quiet for most of the day. Shippo was playing a game of stone marbles with Akira, while Miwa and Kazuo were helping set up camp. With the foxes busy, Kagome had no way of communicating with her modern day friends.

They seemed a little confused of what to make of her as well.

"So…uh…" Ayumi mumbled weakly, but her feeble attempt at conversation was cut off as an angry Sango challenged Miroku to a sparring match.

"Wow," muttered Eri as she noticed the spark of anger in the demon-slayer's eyes, "I wonder what he did."

Kagome laughed and shook her head, rolling her eyes. Miroku was a hopeless lecher. Her laugh came out as several shrill barks.

Her friends stared at her, "What's funny?"

Meanwhile, Miroku was rubbing the back of his head, saying, "Now, now, Sango, let's be reasonable. I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"Wrong thing to say," Kagome sighed to herself, even as Sango's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I think I'll survive," she muttered dryly.

"She'll cream you!" Shippo yelled to Miroku.

Ignoring both of them, Sango wordlessly place one hand on her boomerang-esk weapon, raising one thin eyebrow. Miroku sighed and shouldered his staff, widening his stance slightly. Even Inuyasha stopped and leant against a tree to watch, looking slightly amused.

Sango struck first, swinging Hiraikotsu at Miroku's head, only for it to be blocked by his staff. Sparks leapt as metal met bone in a heated clash. Sango jumped, put one foot against Miroku's staff, and somersaulted backwards with the grace of a demon. She landed a few feet away, Hiraikotsu poised above her head ready to be hurled again.

Kagome's modern age friends stared, open-mouthed, but Kagome only smiled at their shocked expressions.

Sango hurled Hiraikotsu again, to which Miroku retaliated with a sutra. The great weapon went spiralling off course, arcing with blue sparks, right towards one of the large rocks. Yuka, Eri and Ayumi stared as its momentum buried it a good foot in the strong granite.

Not bothering to try reclaiming her weapon, Sango revealed her concealed knife and lunged at Miroku, only to be blocked once again by his golden staff.

They proceeded with what seemed almost like a dance, weapons meeting every few moments. Sango would duck and swerve around the flash of gold that was Miroku's staff, while Miroku depended more upon his weapon to block Sango's advances. The monk was barely keeping his stance. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, his teeth gritted in concentration.

Inuyasha was now sitting next to Kagome, cross-legged and with his hands folded in his wide red sleeves.

"Who's winning?" Eri asked him in awe.

"Feh," he scoffed, "Can't you tell?"

Eri blushed slightly, "N-no."

"She," he withdrew one hand and gestured to Sango, "had him on the defensive before they even began."

Inuyasha brought back his hand and watched the play of light against his skin, as though the battle was hardly worth his notice. He already knew who was going to win.

Shippo appeared suddenly beside Kagome, "Miroku will never win, especially without his wind tunnel."

"I dunno about that," said Inuyasha, not taking his eyes off the couple, "I don't thi-." But whatever he was going to say was cut off as the motion stilled to show Sango with her blade against Miroku's throat.

"Dead," she said, before leaning forward and giving him a small kiss on the cheek. She backed away from her shocked opponent.

Kagome grinned at her friend's surprised expressions.

"They _are_ engaged," she reminded them dryly, and Shippo translated.

"Hey _Half-demon_," Hayato called from his perch on the pointed rock, "it has been a while since I last practiced. Would you like to have a little match?"

"Damn well I would," Inuyasha growled, standing up.

Hayato rolled his eyes before jumping down from his perch on the great spire-like rock. He moved to sit at one end of the clearing, waiting for Inuyasha to make the first move.

Kagome felt a little apprehensive as Inuyasha moved to face the jackal-fox. Hayato was about twice the size of Kirara's kitten form at the most and he looked so weak next to the silver-haired half-demon.

She was about to object when Inuyasha, springing at the jackal, slammed Tetsusaiga down towards him. Kagome flinched, but then saw that Inuyasha had missed by barely an inch. He repeated the move several times, but Hayato was always an inch away from the tip of the blade every time.

Inuyasha growled in frustration as he brought his sword down again on nothing. The dog-like fox was suddenly an inch to the left of where he had been previously – Tetsusaiga had struck only dirt.  
The fox grinned and nonchalantly licked one forepaw, "Are you even trying?"  
The infuriated Inuyasha gave a horizontal slash and Hayato somehow ended up sitting on the flat of the blade, keeping his balance even as it continued its motion. He then took a flying leap, momentarily landing on Inuyasha's head before jumping down behind him. But just as the half-demon was turning to face him, Hayato darted through his legs. The jackal-fox slammed his body weight against one of Inuyasha's legs, knocking the half-demon off balance.

The half-fox demon then skirted around and leapt towards Inuyasha's chest, where his shoulder collided forcefully with the half-demon's breast bone. Already off balance, Inuyasha went down like a felled tree, trapping Tetsusaiga beneath him. Hayato extended a claw to the half-demon's throat.

"Dead," the jackal-fox grinned, before jumping of and allowing his sparing partner to stand.  
Inuyasha stood up and, through gritted teeth, muttered, "Again!"

After several repeats of the battle in which the half-demon continued to lose, Inuyasha's temper soon got the best of him. Unfortunately, this only made him an easier opponent.

Finally, even Inuyasha was forced to admit defeat and the gang turned in. Kagome, now the wiser, slept between two tree roots with a blanket beneath her. She had also taken Kazuo's potion for the first time. It had been embarrassing, because she had had to drink it like a dog. It took a while to figure out how to lap the stuff up with her tongue. Several of her attempts looked so ridiculous that Miroku almost died of laughing, until Sango hit him over the head and left him nursing a throbbing bump. Luckily the potion was clear, so it was undistinguishable from water. This meant the others had no idea she was drinking a special potion that would stop her mind from turning into a fox's at night. It tasted a little sweeter and reminded Kagome of mint. It was also a relief, as she had barely been able to drink anything since she had been cursed – only the bare minimum.

It took her about an hour to get it all down and she was embarrassed as she went to sleep, but grateful to be closer to Inuyasha.

Kagome was awoken from a nightmare sometime during the night as a paw nudged her shoulder. Her head shot up with a start.

"Miss," murmured Hayato, gazing down at her as his fur glowed silver in the moonlight, "I am sorry to wake you, but I heard you whimpering from on the rocks. I…thought it kinder to wake you, than leave you to suffer the nightmare. I am sorry."

"No," Kagome said gratefully, "Thank you. I don't…enjoy these nightmares. I wonder…do you think it might be part of the curse? The dreams, I mean."

The jackal-fox tilted his head, "Quite possibly. It may be that your soul is battling the curse for control over your body."

"Will it stop?" she asked tiredly, laying her head on her forepaws in exhaustion.

"Most likely not," Hayato shook his head, "That scroll was extremely potent. If you had been an average human and not a priestess, your soul would already have been transformed."

Kagome sighed, "I might as well stay up for a while, then. Doesn't look like I'm going to get much sleep. Wait… when did I tell you I was a priestess?"

The half-fox grinned, slightly smug, "You didn't."

"Fine," Kagome sighed, "How did you know I was a priestess?"

"For one, for scent gives it away. I can smell the spiritual energy in your body…far too much for you to be a normal human. And two…this." he reached a paw up to his throat and a golden collar shimmered into being around his neck.

Kagome considered it with interest. It was a plain gold band with a single pink gem in the centre that seemed to glow like the stars.

"It's my _Geesnadeur_," Hayato said, the strange word rolling off his tongue with ease, "Or, in your language, Door to the Soul."

Kagome stared at the thing, "Why is it called that?"

"Because it is just that," the jackal demon told her, "With it I can sense a demon's main powers in attacks and I can also travel to the realm of souls."

Kagome was confused, "You mean like where the dead are?"

"No," Hayato sighed, closing his eyes, "It is a realm that exists on a different plain of this world, where the souls of all creatures are visible to the naked eye."

The jackal-fox hesitated, "I'm not making sense am I? I wish my _onderwys_ were here. She was always good at explaining things."

Kagome cocked her head at the unfamiliar word, "_Onderwys_?"

**"**Er…teacher?" Hayato searched for a word that would match its meaning,"_Sensei_?"

**"**You had a teacher?"

The jackal-fox nodded, "She was a lioness demon. She taught me at the request of my mother, Najja."

**"**If you're African, why do you have a Japanese name?" Kagome raised a furry eyebrow.

**"**My father, Amali, was rather prone to travelling. He was a friend to a demon here and, after that demon died, he named me after him."

_'That's right, Hayato means swift falcon. A fox named falcon,_' Kagome thought. Remember his match with Inuyasha she couldn't say the name was inappropriate.

The half-fox demon grimaced, "It was the first Hayato who asked my father to look after that scroll. When my father passed away a few hundred years ago, his last request was that I be the one to look after it." Hayato hung his head, his shoulders drooping in shame, "I failed."

Kagome wanted to comfort the jackal-fox, but she was unsure how to do so. Instead, she merely asked, "Is there anything else your collar can do?"  
"Well, I can use it to store things within my soul."  
This garnered a stare from Kagome, "what?"  
He sighed, "Like this."

Hayato closed his eyes for a moment and a small beam of light shimmered from the collar. It seemed to materialize into a small bottle, before it changed once more back into light that filtered back through the collar. Kagome stared, trying to think of something to say. She wanted to ask more about it, but the jackal-fox seemed to have other ideas.  
"Now, sleep," He said, "I will try to think of a way to fix your dreams."

He turned and paced back to the rock, where he jumped up and settled down upon it. Kagome sighed and curled up, but was surprised as Hayato started to howl quietly. It sounded like the lonely howl of a wolf, but she understood every word.

The sky stretches above

The brown sand below  
That this is our home

Is the one thing we know  
Trees reaching out

Sun shining strong  
Desert tells you that

Here's where you belong  
When all seems lost

And the day isn't near  
It'll tell you where

To go from here  
Remember when

Simple sunlight  
Made you smile

Just because it's bright  
Remember when little things

Made you cry  
Just because they're sweet,

No reason why  
Do you miss the little things

When they touch your heart?  
Just promise me this,

Don't let those memories part  
So remember to smile

When you see the sun  
Remember to hold

In your heart everyone  
who you think you've lost  
Cause your heart's a host

Hold on to them

Strength they will lend

May your heart mend

Kagome looked up at the jackal-fox in wonder as he ended his song, only to start another. Perhaps he couldn't sleep or simply didn't want to. But this new song seemed more like a chant.

The silent songbird's final song  
The heart of one who's lived too long  
The weary wanderer's final sleep  
With final breath his spirit leaps  
With his last breath he sees the dawn  
The tired one, now just so drawn  
With last breath, close your eyes  
In my heart I now know why  
what you meant when you said  
That passed all of the saddened red  
Blue still remains, the sky's still there  
I send to you, silver wanderer, my prayer  
Just keep on smiling  
Because Androa willing  
However long there's dark before dawn  
Know that the day will come

The demon sighed and laid his head on his forepaws, before finally closing his eyes.  
Kagome copied the gesture, draping her tail over her nose and drifted to sleep. But she was awoken many times during the night by the same nightmare.  
Inuyasha woke to whimpering below him. It was still dark. His first thought was that Shippo was having nightmares, but then he remembered that it was Kagome, not Shippo, who was sleeping under him. He looked down to see the gold fox asleep, tail lashing and biting her own forepaw hard enough to draw blood. It must have been some nightmare.  
Inuyasha jumped down and nudged her, "Kagome?"  
The fox woke with a start. "Oh, Inuyasha," she sighed, "You startled me." Her eyes strayed to the half-moon, which was still high in the sky.  
"Bad dreams, huh?" the half-demon asked.  
She sighed and nodded.  
They fell into an awkward silence. After looking around discreetly, Inuyasha put one hand on her shoulder and, to her shock, began to sing. His voice was so soft, she could barely hear it. Maybe he was afraid that someone else would hear him. He sat besides her, leaning against the trunk, and sang her a quiet song that his mother used to sing.

The river flows through the valley deep  
Flowers grow even when you sleep  
River runs nearer to the sea at night  
Shining silver in the moonlight  
Peppering the river shore  
Flowers growing evermore  
Birds are flying overhead  
Far higher then your sleeping head  
The green frogs sing a harmony  
That always cou-

Inuyasha stopped when he realised that Kagome was asleep, her golden head rested on his leg. He smiled and chuckled slightly, before putting his hands behind his head and leaning against the tree. In the silence that followed, he placed his hand protectively around her and watched her sleep. Within moments, he too had drifted into the realm of dreams.


	11. Chapter 11

**11.**

Dawn broke in magnificent fashion, colouring the sky pale gold as the sun rose from beyond the horizon. Kagome woke to find Inuyasha gone. She could have sworn he had been sitting next to her when she had fallen asleep. Perhaps it had been a dream. As the golden fox gazed around at her sleeping friends, the half-demon re-entered the clearing.

"Time to go, everyone!" Inuyasha called, when he noticed Kagome was awake.

There was much grumbling as the group was roused from their slumber. Hayato, Miwa and Kazuo did not complain. But the three modern girls more than made up for it.

"Why do we have to get up so early?" Eri whined.

"It's barely dawn!" Yuka added, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Ayumi yawned widely.

A groggy Miroku seemed just as displeased. He sat up, blinking sleepily, and glared at Inuyasha.

"What's the rush, Inuyasha?" he yawned, stretching.

The half-demon folded his arms, "The sooner we get moving, the sooner we find what we need and the sooner Kagome gets changed back!"

"I am inclined to agree with the half-demon on this regard," Hayato added, leaping gracefully down from his perch on the rock, "It would be best if we continued sooner rather than later."

The foxes of the group, including Kagome, exchanged glances. Only they knew how important a factor time was to the success of their mission. There weren't many more complaints after that, except from Eri and Yuka who seemed to do nothing but complain. In silence, the group packed up camp and set off towards their next destination.

Inuyasha set a fast pace, but always ensured that Kagome could keep up. It irritated him that Hayato was as fast as he was. Kirara was once again stuck with her three passengers, with Shippo and Akira perched atop her head. They covered the ground with impressive speed.

"If we keep up this pace, we're bound to get there by midday!" Inuyasha exclaimed, calling to Kagome over the sound of the wind that ripped his voice away.

Hayato was loping gracefully beside the golden fox.

"Where exactly are we headed?" he asked her.

"We're after the fang of a demon that Inuyasha's father fought," Kagome replied, frowning as she concentrated on stopping her tail from tripping her legs up, "It was a great dragon known as Ryukotsusei. Inuyasha destroyed it a while ago, but we're hoping there'll be enough left to find a piece of its fang."

"Enough left?" Hayato looked perplexed, but Kagome didn't answer. The jackal-fox would soon find out what she meant, though.

Just as Inuyasha had estimated, they reached their destination shortly after midday. The rocky valley in which the half-demon and the great dragon had once fought looked just the same as it had back then. Hayato noticed, with some confusion, that there didn't seem to be any evidence of a dragon carcass. What had Inuyasha done with its body when he killed it?

Kirara took multiple trips carrying the humans down into the valley, but Inuyasha and the foxes climbed down on their own. Kagome was embarrassed when the half-demon scooped her up and carried her down himself. She could feel Hayato watching them.

With the group standing together down in the barren valley, Kagome took the chance to look around. As she did, she noticed the remnants of battle that she had not noticed before – scratch marks in the rocks, great chunks where sections of the wall had been blown away and, of course, the little bits of bone and scale that littered the area. Ryukotsusei's flesh had rotted away, but his fragmented bones and the pieces of his scaly skin still remained.

Inuyasha kicked a huge cracked vertebra with his foot, "Good to see the disgusting old dragon's bones are still lying around. There should be a fang around somewhere."

Hayato strove to keep the revulsion out of his expression as he asked, "Inuyasha, do you make a habit of blowing your enemies up?"

Shippo snickered, but Inuyasha merely turned away without answering. A sudden squeal from behind made them spin around in alarm, but it was just Yuka. She had picked up a piece of old scaly skin, wondering what it was, only to realise and throw it away in horror.

"It's everywhere!" she shrieked, shrinking away from the piece of skin she'd just touched, "Ewww, what _is_ it?"

"I-It's like a giant snake skin!" Eri whimpered, staring at a similar piece near her foot. She backed away from it as though it would come alive and attack her.

Ayumi, on the other hand, was leaning over a very large vertebra that had once been part of Ryukotsusei's spine. She didn't touch it, but she did look very intrigued.

"Look at the size of this! Whatever it was must have been very big!" she mused. Eri and Yuka just looked disgusted.

Inuyasha snorted, "Big, yeah. But it was no match for me."

Kagome rolled her eyes. Miroku quickly came up with a suggestion.

"How about we split up and all look for a fang?"

"That's a good idea, Miroku," Sango agreed, "All I see around here are broken ribs and vertebrae."

Soon everyone was searching the valley floor for one of Ryukotsusei's fang. Only Ayumi, Eri and Yuka refused to search. They seemed to have had enough of bones and dried up pieces of scaly skin. However, finding a fang turned out to be a whole lot harder than they had first thought, as Kagome found out after an hour of searching fruitlessly.

"We're wasting time!" she groaned, kicking a rock with her paw. Shippo, who had been searching nearby, hurried to her side.

"This place is huge! It could take forever to find what we want," the fox demon sighed.

"We don't have time to waste like this!" Kagome whimpered, and then curled up on the ground. She buried her head into her paws, moaning, "I'm never going to get changed back."

"Th-that's not true, Kagome!" Shippo argued timidly, "It'll be ok!"

"But if we can't find this fang…" she sighed, her ears drooping. Shippo placed a comforting paw on her shoulder.

A yell of frustration came from Inuyasha, who was further down the valley, followed by a deafening crash as he threw a rock that was almost the size of himself. It smashed on the valley floor. Kagome winced and Shippo muttered dryly, "Looks like he's having just as much luck as we are."

Kagome was just about ready to give up hope, when Sango came running with her hand held above her head and her fist clenched around something – something large and tooth-like. The golden fox jumped to her paws.

"Hey!" the demon-slayer was calling, "Look what I found!"

Everyone came running to see the massive tooth that Sango was cradling in her hands. It was about as big as Shippo and chipped in a few places. It was also very yellowed. Inuyasha stared at the massive fang.

"Where did you find that?" he asked incredulously.

"It was lodged in the valley wall," Sango replied, "It must have stuck there after you blew Ryukotsusei up."

"Barbaric," Hayato muttered, but only Kagome and Shippo heard him.

"Good spotting, Sango," Miroku praised, "Now there's only a few more ingredients to find!"

"Shall we decide what to look for next?" Kazuo asked.

Kagome glanced at her modern day friends, who were still trying to keep as far away from the remnants of the dead dragon as possible. She smiled – a little exasperated, a little amused.

"Maybe we should get out of this valley first."

After they were out of the canyon, much to the modern girls' relief, Kagome murmured the curse, "A silken hair from the Lord of the West, a few drops of blood from the one you love best, a piece of fang from a beast the great dog fought, the claw of a warrior whose love came to naught, a cup of water from the ocean deep, and a soul from the wanderer denied from her sleep."

"Hmm," Shippo murmured, "We got the hair, the blood and the fang, and Koga's getting the water."

"What?" Inuyasha butted in, "Who's blood?"

"None of your business, Inuyasha," the young fox demon replied, much to the half-demon's annoyance.

"That leaves the claw and the soul," Kagome murmured thoughtfully, "Wait; a claw from a warrior whose love came to naught? What about Ayame?"

Shippo beamed as he translated and added, "And her pack's usually not that far from here!"

Everyone else was in agreement. They started moving quickly, eating a late lunch as they ran and rode. The modern girls muttered about one thing or another amongst themselves, as was usual. Akira had chosen to take fox form and run, rather than ride on Kirara.

They had been moving for many hours without incident until they happened upon an old and misted forest. It was dark here, amongst the towering trees, as the misted fog swirled around their legs and waists. Kagome shivered against the cold and for once was glad of her furry coat. The group slowed to a walk as they traipsed through the forest in silence. There was a strange feeling in the air, like millions of eyes were staring at them from the mist.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a form appeared through the mist. A graceful white animal with piercing blue eyes. It stood in their path, surrounded by mist and flanked on all sides by the tall, dark trees. It was a slim, white fox, with many more than just a single tail.

The gang came to a stop as Inuyasha snarled, "Who are you? Get out of the way!"

"Careful, idiot!" Hayato snapped, eying the white fox warily, "Do you even know what that is?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Inuyasha snapped back, "It's in the way and we don't have time for diversions!"

"Idiot!"

"Lowlife!"

While the two demons threw pointless insults at each other, they didn't stop to look behind them or even at the fox as it considered them with alarming azure eyes. They didn't even notice when Yuka glowed blue for a few moments, nor as one of the blue tips of the white fox's nine tails lit up.

Yuka felt odd. It felt like something was pushing in on her – it didn't exactly hurt, but it felt so _wrong_. She tried to call her friends names, but couldn't. It was as though her voice had been stolen from her. The feeling intensified into a strange squeezing sensation, like something was pushing into the core of her being and pulling out at the same time.

And suddenly she could hear a voice in her head that she couldn't ignore. She tried to scream as her head was forced up and her mouth formed words she'd never meant to say.

"Greetings," she said coolly, her voice distorted strangely, "This is my territory. Leave now or stay for eternity as my servants."

Yuka saw the group turn in confusion. She didn't know what they saw, but Eri and Ayumi's faces twisted with bewilderment and fear.

Yuka's eyes had no pupils – just plain, glowing blue.

Eri yelped, "Yuka? What happened to you?"

"She's been possessed!" Hayato yelped, his eyes widening. He turned swiftly to meet the fox's glowing blue eyes.

"I am Sourankitsu," Yuka said calmly, "Leave one of your group to become my servant and you may go. Stay and you will all be as your friend now is."

'_I'm possessed?_' Yuka thought. She tried once again to scream, though not a word would leave her lips.

"Like hell that's gonna happen!" Inuyasha snarled, reaching for his sword. He tried to pull it out of its sheath, but to his dismay it would not move an inch.

"You dare to defy me, mere half-demon as you are?" Yuka felt herself say.

"Yuka, you have to fight it!" Kagome barked desperately, "Fight it!"

Yuka realised, at that moment, that she could understand Kagome's strange little language. She wondered dazedly if it was because she was possessed by a fox. She could only watch with horror as she raised her hand and pointed at Kagome.

"Don't listen to the voi-!" Kagome was suddenly cut off when rope appeared around her muzzle and bound it shut. She desperately tried to pry it off with a paw, but couldn't catch it.

'_Did _I_ do that?_' Yuka thought, horrified.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha yelped and bent down to help.

"My patience wears thin," Yuka, or rather Sourankitsu, announced. Suddenly, all the humanoids were enveloped in the same blue light.

"Wha-!" Inuyasha yelped. His hand, which was about to remove the rope, shot forwards and hit Kagome over the head, bowling her over.

"What?" she yelped as she fell. Inuyasha understood the pained yelp perfectly.

'_What the hell happened?_' he thought angrily to himself. There was a strange feeling overwhelming his body.

Miroku and Sango, both trained in the art of fighting demons, were perfectly aware of what had happened and immediately started fighting as they were trained to. They released pure mental energy from their minds, hoping to overwhelm the fox's influence. But the squeezing sensation continued; the fox demoness was too strong. Sango tried in vain to reach for her Hiraikotsu, but she couldn't even twitch a finger. She stopped even trying when she heard a voice.

'_What the hell happed?'_

'_Inuyasha?' _Sango thought, slightly confused.

'_Sango?' _came the confused reply. It was definitely the half-demon.

'_You can hear me?' _The demon slayer thought. Her lips wouldn't move to speak the words.

'_Apparently,' _Inuyasha's voice grunted in her mind.

'_Can the others hear us?' _she thought frantically, unable to do anything else as her body was entirely frozen.

'_You're the demon expert, you tell me,' _his voice was exasperated.

'_I can hear you,' _Miroku's voice broke into their consciousness, '_Can _she_ hear us?'_

They didn't need a name to know whom he was referring to.

'_She shouldn't be able to,' _Sango thought, knowing her thoughts would reach her friends,_ 'But how is she doing this? A demon shouldn't be able to possess more than one person at a time!'_

'_Nine tails,' _Miwa interjected, his gruff voice echoing through their minds, '_She has nine tails.'_

'_Your point?' _Inuyasha asked irritably.

'_Nine-tailed foxes are very powerful,' _Kazuo explained. She too had been taken hold of the foxes curse.

As they were conversing, Kagome was on the ground groaning. When Inuyasha had pushed her, she had twisted her paw, possibly broken it. She groaned, trying to get up, but stumbled several times because she couldn't put weight on that paw.

"Inuyasha, snap out of it!" She called desperately, but he couldn't. Against his body's own will, Inuyasha took Tetsusaiga out of its sheath and raised it.

'_Inuyasha stop_!' Yuka yelped, the only one of the modern girls who was slightly oriented.

'_I can't!' _The half-demon thought frantically, fighting to stop his body from moving.

'_Try!'_

'_I am trying!'_

To Inuyasha's and the others' horror, he began to bring the sword down on top of Kagome. But suddenly she wasn't there – she was ten feet away in Hayato's mouth. Kagome was glad he had helped her, though she was humiliated at being carried like a kitten. It must have been hard on the jackal-fox. She was almost as big as he was.

Hayato set her down, "Akira, get out of here!"

"But mom, da-!" the young vixen, who was still in full fox form, protested.

"We'll get them later, I promise!" Hayato yelled, "We have to run for now!"

"No!" It was not Akira who spoke, but Kagome, "I won't leave them! I won't leave _him_!"

"We must leave!" Hayato insisted as Inuyasha began to raise his sword again. Against all of their possessed friends, he knew they stood no chance.

"No!" Kagome insisted, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, I don't have time to argue!" He grabbed her again, but she dug her claws into the soil and refused to be budged. If he pulled too hard, she was likely to have some of her claws ripped out. Hayato released her, not wanting to harm her.

"Kirara," he called, keeping an eye on Inuyasha. The others were beginning to move towards them. Even Shippo, his innocent green eyes now glowing like blue pools, had been possessed.

Tears flew from the demon cat as she turned, knocked Kagome off her feet to unlatch her claws, and took hold of her in her mouth. Kirara turned, with one last hopeless look at Sango, and bounded away.

Hayato took hold of Akira in a similar fashion and followed the great cat demon, disappearing into the mist.

Inuyasha could hardly see now. His vision had slowly been overrun with a blue shade, and now all he could see was blue and shadows. He sniffed, searching for the scents of his fleeing friends. '_They're gone...'_

'_Good,' _Sango thought,_ 'She must not be able to control animals. Or at least, demons in full animal form.'_

'_I almost killed Kagome...' _Inuyasha's voice whispered.

'_It's not your fault, Inuyasha,' _Miroku insisted.

'_What do we do now?'_ Shippo wondered miserably. He wished he had been able to take on full fox form like Akira. Then he could have escaped with them.

'_What _can_ we do?'_ one of the modern day girls asked.

No one wanted to answer.

After they were about five miles away, Kirara finally put Kagome down. Kagome looked at the demon cat and was surprised when she immediately shrunk and curled up miserably. Kirara draped her two tails over her muzzle, hiding her face.

Kagome struggled to her feet and began to limp in the direction they had come from, heavily favouring her badly-sprained foot. She had to save her friends.

"It's no use, Kagome," Hayato murmured kindly, walking to her side, "We have to think before we go back."

Finally accepting the legitimacy of the jackal-fox's decision, Kagome collapsed into a dejected heap, her sprained foot sticking out at a slightly odd angle.

"What do we do now?" she asked dismally.

Hayato looked at the jet black sky. He couldn't remember when night had fallen, but there was hardly a star in sight. Dark clouds obscured the sky above the forest they had fled from.

"For now we should sleep. Akira, you should remain in fox form, just in case," He, too, seemed to have realised that the nine-tailed fox could not control animals.

Kagome, too tired to even argue, laid her head atop her tail. She did the same with her sprained forepaw, knowing that elevating it would help at least a little.

Akira approached her. "Um…" the fox-child said awkwardly, "Can I sleep with you?"

Kagome smiled weakly and unwrapped her tail from around her body, inviting the young vixen-demon to sleep beside her.

The little fox smiled gratefully, before snuggling into Kagome's side, covering her nose with her small paws. Kagome wrapped her tail around the young fox demon. She was surprised when Kirara, in her larger form, approached and curled herself around both of them. Perhaps she sought for comfort or to comfort them.

'_Or maybe it's both,'_ Kagome thought as she drifted off to sleep.

Hayato jumped branch by branch to the top of a tree. He did not sleep that night but, after whispering the two songs he sung every night, he kept watch in case the nine-tailed vixen decided to return.


	12. Chapter 12

**12.**

The others were also asleep and yet they weren't; it was as if their bodies were asleep, while their minds could not follow. The fox had directed them to a huge cave, where small foxfire torches lit the walls. They were sleeping sitting up against the wall and only Inuyasha was accustomed to it.

'_My back hurts,_' Yuka complained.

'_Ditto,_' Eri agreed, having finally come to terms with what was happening.

'_Do you think Kagome and Akira and Kirara are okay?'_ Shippo wondered worriedly.

'_They'll be fine,'_ Sango assured the young fox.

'_Yeah,'_ Inuyasha scoffed, '_It's us you should be worried about!'_

Shippo erupted into mental sobs that no one could really hear. It was a strange sensation.

'_Smooth,'_ Miroku muttered to the half-demon.

'_Uh… Shippo, I'm sorry,'_ Inuyasha apologised awkwardly, '_We'll fix this, somehow...'_

'_Or we will,' _a new voice interjected, '_It is your own fault Inuyasha, I did warn you_.'

The gang's eyes would have widened if they could. Shippo stopped crying abruptly.

'_Hayato?'_ Sango asked, disbelieving. She wanted to look around the cave to see if he was there, but she could not. She could see nothing. Only darkness; strange, blue darkness.

'_The one and only,' _Hayato's voice murmured. Was he with them physically or only in spirit? They didn't know.

'_Is Kagome okay? Is she safe_?' Inuyasha asked desperately, for once not giving the half-fox demon a hard time.

'_She's fine – asleep,' _Hayato reassured them,_ 'Kirara had to drag her away from trying to help you._'

'_We saw,'_ Inuyasha said dryly.

'_Akira?' _Kazuo asked worriedly.

'_She's fine, we're all fine. Kagome's curled up around her, it's actually rather sweet.'_

'_Please, thank Kagome for keeping my daughter safe,_'Kazuo whispered.

'_You can tell her yourself,' _Hayato replied,_ 'Tomorrow, I shall try to have Kagome contact you.'_

'_How? And how are you contacting us? Are you here?_' Inuyasha asked eagerly.

'_No, I am not with you. We are safely away from the forest. I cannot tell you how I am speaking with you. Who knows how strong Sourankitsu's grip on your mind is? I do not wish for her to find out about my… Regardless, I don't have a plan finalized. The others have yet to awaken.'_

'_That's reassuring,'_ Inuyasha thought dryly.

'_How long until daybreak?' _Kazuo asked.

'_Not long,' _Hayato replied,_ 'I plan to awaken the others in an hour or so.'_

'_What do we do until then?' _Inuyasha snapped impatiently.

'_Be patient, half-demon.'_

'_I don't want to just sit here!'_

'_You don't have much of a choice.'_

'_Why, I had no idea!' _Inuyasha thought sarcastically.

'_If you want to be useful, tell me as much as you can about what happened!' _Hayato insisted, ignoring the sarcasm.

'_You were there!'_ Inuyasha thought angrily.

'_Tell me what it felt like,' _Hayato's voice whispered in their heads,_ 'I need to know as much about her powers as I can.'_

'_Um…it was like… fuzzy squeezing,_'Ayumi mumbled, trying to be helpful.

'_Fuzzy squeezing?' _Hayato sounded bewildered.

'_Damn,' _Inuyasha swore suddenly as a thought struck him, '_We left the bag and Kagome's ingredients are still in there!_'

'_Don't worry,' _Hayato reassured him, _'__I've got it.'_

'_Impossible, there is no way you could lift the thing,' _Inuyasha snorted incredulously.

'_I have my ways,' _Hayato murmured mysteriously.

'_Your collar?' _Kazuo wondered curiously, much to Hayato's surprise.

'_You can sense it? Impressive!' _he did sound impressed.

'_What? You have a collar?' _Inuyasha asked, confused.

'_I believe I will leave you to wonder in ignorance for a while,' _Hayato murmured, amused. For a moment there was silence as Inuyasha seethed with annoyance.

Hayato's voice suddenly broke into their subconsciousness once more, '_Kagome has awoken. I'll see if I can put her through…_'

Silence followed this remark.

'_Is he gone?' _Miroku wondered.

'_I think so,'_ Sango thought back. It felt strangely empty without Hayato's presence there.

'_Put her though?'_ Eri muttered, dwelling on Hayato's strange choice of words, '_What is this? Phone lines?'_

'_Phone lines?' _Inuyasha wondered curiously.

'_Never mind,' _Eri thought quickly.

The group waited in silence until a new voice came, '_I can hear you, but not them.'_

'_Careful, you have to keep your paw on the stone,' _that was Hayato. Inuyasha wondered what stone he was talking about and remembered that the others could hear his thoughts.

'_I'm trying!' _that voice…it sounded like Kagome.

'_Here then, you can lie down and don't have to put weight on that paw,' _Hayato's voice whispered. He was talking to Kagome.

'_That helps, thanks.'_

'_Kagome?' _Sango thought, hoping her voice could reach her friend.

'_Sango, can you hear me?' _Kagome's voice echoed.

'_I would assume she can,' _Inuyasha muttered.

'_Inuyasha! You okay?' _She sounded truly worried.

'_That a rhetorical question?' _He was letting his temper get the better of him and he knew it.

'_Listen, I'm sorry,' _she thought. They all felt rather than heard a sob as it coloured her voice.

'_You're on a roll, Inuyasha,'_ Miroku thought dryly, '_that's the second time in an hour.'_

Yuka was suddenly laughing uncontrollably and the others would have stared if they could have. Even so, their confusion was tangible.

'_I'm sorry!'_ she laughed, '_It's just that this reminds me of some bizarre chat room!'_

'_I think her head's gone funny,' _Shippo muttered.

'_You all sound a little too cheerful to me,'_ Hayato's voice cut in. He sounded confused, if not a little worried. What was happening to their minds?

Sango sighed, '_Yuka was the first...'_

'_What, you think her head really is going weird?' _Shippo wondered.

'_It's possible,' _Sango explained anxiously,_ 'Sometimes that can happen with demon possession. They don't want their host fighting too much, so..._

'_Don't be so serious, Sango!' _Miroku interrupted cheerfully.

'_Sounds like he lost it too...'_ Inuyasha said.

'_Did he ever have it?' _Shippo replied.

'_Dunno...'_

'_Guys, snap out of it!' _Kagome snapped, _'You're acting like slaphappy idiots!'_

'_Why thank you!' _Inuyasha responded sarcastically.

'_They've all been acting weird!' _Shippo complained.

'_But you're okay?'_ Kagome wondered.

'_Fox magic,' _Kazuo explained softly, '_Miwa, Shippo and I are probably slightly immune. However, the others…'_

Her voice trailed off, but Kagome got the gist. Under the spell of Sourankitsu, everyone, except for the fox demons, was slowly losing their minds. While in some ways this seemed almost humorous, it worried Kagome equally as much.

'_It's like the sake mist all over again!' _she thought angrily.

'_Sake mist?' _Kazuo wondered, confused.

'_It's not important,' _Kagome said quickly, and then added sadly, _'We should go. Hayato said he might have an idea about how to save you…but we can't tell you unless _she_ hears it._'

'_Goodbye, Kagome,'_ Kazuo's soft voice floated through her mind, _'be careful. And please, keep Akira safe.'_

_'I will,'_ Kagome promised, her voice fading as the connection wavered, _'Don't worry.'_

The others seemed to be playing the silent game, something Kagome had originally introduced to Shippo. Perhaps their minds were a little too overwhelmed. It worried her.

A soft tinkling laugh echoed through Kagome's subconsciousness,_ 'I'm a mother, Kagome, it's my job to worry.'_

_'Just don't overwork yourself,' _Kagome smiled weakly, though she knew Kazuo could not see it.

'_I'll do my best, Kagome,_' Kazuo whispered. And then Kagome's presence faded away.

They were alone once more, with only themselves and the curse for company.

Dawn approached slowly for those under the influence of Sourankitsu's curse. Several of them, including Inuyasha, Miroku and the modern girls, had spent the last hours of the night bickering, laughing and even muttering to themselves. A worried Kazuo hoped that Kagome would find a way to free them before their minds were completely lost.

A strange fuzziness had settled itself over her mind as well, and she had no doubt that Miwa and Shippo felt the same. Slowly, their immunity to the mind-numbing curse of Sourankitsu was fading. Eventually, they too would become mindless servants to the nine-tailed fox.

Shippo thought anxiously about Kagome all night long. Only when the sun rose did something happen that interrupted his worried thoughts. A soft, almost motherly voice spoke in his mind.

'_You, little fox,'_ it said, a little demanding and yet as smooth as silk, _'Come here.'_

'_M-me?' _Shippo tried to stutter, but could only think the word. Never the less, it seemed to have been heard.

'_Yes, you. Come closer to me, little fox. I have a job for you.'_

Shippo wanted to argue. He was sure that the owner of the voice was the fox who had cursed them, Sourankitsu. He didn't want to go anywhere near her. But the poor little fox demon soon found that, though he was in control of his mind, his body would not obey his commands.

'_Shippo!'_ Kazuo gasped as the young fox demon stood up and began to walk deeper into the cave. Though she could not see him through the blue haze over her eyes, she could somehow feel his presence as it drifted further away from her.

'_Aunt K-Kazuo!' _Shippo whimpered as his feet carried him, against his own wishes, away from his friends, _'I can't control it! Help me, Aunt Kazuo!'_

'_Shippo!'_ Kazuo called out again in her mind, but could do nothing to help. She could feel Shippo's fear in her own mind. Somehow, their feelings were linked. Perhaps that was part of the curse.

Shippo trembled as his paws carried him further and further away from his friends until he could hardly feel their presence anymore. Suddenly, he stopped and was still. Something was in front of him – something living and breathing. He could sense it, somehow. The young fox demon would have trembled if he could.

"Do not be frightened, young fox," said a feminine voice. Shippo realised she was speaking in fox-talk, rather than through his subconsciousness.

"I wish for you to groom me," said the female fox. Shippo wished he could see her. "I have not been groomed for so very long."

'_I-I can't see you!'_ Shippo sobbed, his eyes searching desperately through the blue shadows, _'I can't see anything!'_

"That is part of the curse," answered the fox who, by now, Shippo had surmised to be Sourankitsu, "You shall not see until I release you. _If_ I release you."

Shippo hesitated, _'c-can you see me?'_

"Of course, little fox. I can see…" her voice trailed off suddenly, leaving Shippo in confused silence. A tense moment passed as the young fox wondered whether he'd done something wrong somehow.

"You remind me," Sourankitsu said at last, her voice suddenly soft and wistful, "of someone I once knew. Someone very close to me…"

'_Wh-who?' _Shippo dared to wonder. Another silence.

"That is not important," Sourankitsu's eyes seemed to stare into Shippo's soul. He could feel them, like hot sharp points. There was the sound of soft paws pattering against rock and he realised she was circling him. He tried not to tremble before he remembered he was not in control of his body anyway.

"Tell me, little one," Sourankitsu purred, "Would you like to speak?"

Shippo could feel his heart beating erratically, _'I…I just want to see! I don't like this!'_

The young fox demon could feel sobs breaking in his chest, but he could not let them out. It hurt and it only made him feel worse. He could see nothing, just blue, and that frightened him. What if he could never see again?

"Then you shall see," she whispered suddenly, much to his amazement.

Just like that his vision returned in a flash. He blinked and would have staggered if his body had been under his own command. It took Shippo several moments to realise that he could see again and take in everything around him. His eyes drank up the ragged grey walls of rock and the blue torches of fox-fire around the cave. Then Sourankitsu paced into his view and he stared at her.

She was slim and magnificent, with nine beautiful tails that curved above her silky white back. They were tipped with pale blue, blue that was glowing strangely like the fox-fire around the walls. Her eyes were pools of sapphire, like Yuka's had been when she had first been possessed. Shippo had no doubt that his friends all had eyes like that now, except for those who had escaped. His thoughts turned to Kagome for a split second and he hoped she would be here soon to save everyone.

"Does it please you to see again, little fox?" Sourankitsu asked gently, stopping to sit in front of him. Shippo gazed up at her and gulped.

'_Y-yes…'_

"I am glad, little one," the nine-tailed fox gazed down at him with a strange fondness in her glimmering eyes, "Now, you may groom me. Be gentle, little fox."

With a wave of her slender white paw, Sourankitsu summoned an ornate ivory comb that seemed to spring out of nowhere. It fell into Shippo's paws and the young fox realised with a jolt that he could move again. He briefly considered making a dash for it, but Sourankitsu's voice dashed those hopes.

"Do not try to run, little fox," she purred, lying down and folding her paws, "You are still under my control. Please, I wish to be groomed."

'_Y-yes…Sourankitsu…'_ Shippo thought hesitantly. Gazing at the comb in his paws, he realised it was formed of bone. Repressing a shudder, Shippo wondered what sort of creature the bone had belonged to.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Shippo carefully approached the white fox and stroked the comb through her fur. He found that her fur was pleasantly soft and thick, so smooth that the comb passed easily through it without catching. For several minutes he worked, grooming her shoulders and chest before moving towards her tails. She seemed to be enjoying the treatment.

"Thankyou, little one," Sourankitsu sighed, her tails swishing pleasantly, "It feels good to be groomed after so many years of solitude."

Shippo didn't reply. He merely sat and combed her tails, one by one, wishing he was anywhere else but here. What was Kagome doing now? Did they know how to save everyone? Whilst he worked, he was unaware that his captor was watching him.

Sourankitsu observed the young fox curiously as he groomed her. In so many ways he seemed familiar. The memories it stirred up caused a painful ache of longing in the white fox's heart. His looks, his mannerisms, even the way he moved – it reminded Sourankitsu of someone that had meant so much to her. That someone had been lost many years ago, but she thought about him almost every day.

'_He is so like my little one…'_ Sourankitsu thought fondly, _'so similar to my darling cub…'_

"What is your name, little one?"The ivory fox asked quietly when Shippo had finished.

"Shi-Shippo," he said, still trembling slightly, just then regaining his voice.

The white fox looked at the fearful young fox demon, noticing the way his body still shook with fear.

"You may go back to your friends in the other cave," she said and summoned a small floating orb of foxfire, "This will lead the way. Do not try to escape, little one. I know where you are at every moment."

"Ye-yes, Sourankitsu," the fox demon replied, still shaking as he rubbed his hands over his small arms.

"Are you cold little one?" she asked gently.

"S-sorta," Shippo replied timidly, looking up at her unsurely.

"Here," A shimmering white cloak of fur appeared in front of him, "wear that, little fox."

Unwilling to risk the fox's anger, he reached out with shaking paws and draped the cloak around himself. It was made of rabbit fur, judging by the smell, though there were faint traces of another fox. Perhaps someone had worn it before.

"Now leave me," the white fox said regally, "I have pondering to attend to."

"Yes, Sourankitsu," Shippo murmured obediently, some of the fear lost to his voice. He turned eagerly away to follow the blue fire orb. As he entered the hallway he thought he heard soft feathery sobs, but then decided he must have imagined it.

The strange orb was not difficult to follow, in fact it kept perfectly even with his own pace, speeding up as he started to run and coming to a complete standstill when he stumbled and fell to his knees. The whole rout was underground and pale blue touches provided an eerie light.

When he finally reached the cavern, the orb dissipated and he ran in on all fours simply for the sake of speed. Shippo faltered about half way to his friends. Their eyes were now open and were shimmering emotionless pits of blue. He felt the hairs on his arms stand on end.

'_Shippo_?' Kazuo asked worriedly, '_is that you?_'

Shippo barely hesitated before jumped into her lap and hugged her fiercely. He wished Kagome were there to comfort him. Somehow, hugging his aunt just didn't feel the same.

Kazuo would have given anything to return the gesture, but was unable too.

"I'm back," Shippo told her, both mentally and through his mouth. His voice trembled.

'_Shippo, oh, thank heavens! What happened?_'

As Shippo explained, far away in the clearing Hayato was explaining what he could to Kagome.

Kagome tilted her head and asked angrily, "What do you mean we can't free them now?"

"Whatever grip Sourankitsu has on their minds, your friends are growing more and more," Hayato took a moment to find an appropriate word, "immature."

If the situation had been less dire, Kagome would have laughed and commented that Inuyasha already _was_ as immature as he could get. Instead she stuck to asking an irritated, "So?"

"If we free them when they are like this, they will remain as such," Hayato responded gravely, "They are losing their minds, Kagome."

"Oh, god," Kagome muttered, grateful she had insisted Kirara take Akira somewhere else well they discussed, "What can we do about it?"

"The only thing I can think of is to use this," he gestured with one of his incredibly flexible forelegs to his neck, where a gold collar suddenly became visible. A pink jewel glistened in the centre

"Your _Geesnadeur?_" Kagome asked curiously.

Hayato nodded, "It has enough power to easily heal them, but that power would need to travel through the spirit realm to do it."

"So you have to go and heal them through the spirit realm?" Kagome asked.

"No, I cannot go near that fox in spirit form. She will sense my demonic aura and attack me ruthlessly," he looked at her with his piercing amethyst eyes, "You will have to go into their minds and I will direct its power through you. After they are healed of that, we can consider how to free their bodies."

"You want _me_ to go?" Kagome yelped, alarmed, "but I don't know how!"

"I will tell you," Hayato replied grimly, "Sit down. This may take awhile."

As Kagome tried awkwardly to sit down without putting weight on her sprained foreleg, she said, "But I can't even walk on this thing!"

Hayato sat, wrapping his tail elegantly around his forepaws, "It is not the body that travels in the spirit world, but the soul and mind."

Kagome shivered slightly, remembering the times when her soul had been dragged from her body. Neither had been pleasant. But she would do anything to save her friends. _Anything._

She looked at Hayato grimly, "What do I need to do?"

An hour or so later, they were ready. Hayato had materialized some fowl herbs for Kagome to eat and to roll herself in, which she found very embarrassing, particularly with her hurt forepaw. She thought she recognised some of the stuff from what Urasue had used, back when her soul had first been drawn from her body. The smell still made her dizzy, though it was nothing compared to the first time.

"Okay," Hayato paced around her, "are you ready?"

Kagome simply gave a determined nod, wrinkling her nose at the smell of the herbs coating her body.

"Keep in mind to be wary of soul collectors," Hayato warned, "and remember, if you brush another soul they _will_ sense you. Are you confident you know how to enter your friend's minds?"

She nodded, though the prospect seemed unfair that she would have to invade her friend's minds. But there was no other way.

"Remember, you will not see their memories or anything else similar unless you choose to," he reassured her, but it still seemed so _wrong_.

"You will still be able to contact me mentally," the jackal-fox promised, "and you can talk to your friends once you touch their souls. Remember, you still have to heal your fox demon friends as well. However immune they seem to Sourankitsu's curse, it is unlikely that they are completely immune to the affects."

Kagome nodded again. They had been through this twenty times, but she had not complained once. She didn't want to forget anything vital.

"Okay," Hayato agreed seriously, "I would ask a lot of 'are you sure's', but the answer is plain on your face. I will travel with you in physical form as far as possible; your body will remain here where Kirara has agreed to guard it."

Kagome snapped her head up, "You can talk to Kirara?"

"My teacher was a lioness demon," Hayato replied simply.

"Oh," she mumbled, still a little confused. Kirara looked a little like a lion, but she was a regular cat demon. Kagome herself couldn't understand Koga's wolves, despite being a fox, and they were both canines. But perhaps it was different with cats.

Kirara came through the bushes, Akira on her back. She glanced at Hayato and growled.

"Yes, we are ready," he replied to her.

Kirara looked at Kagome and mewed something. Hayato turned to her and said, "She asked you to please save your friends and to tell Sango that she is missed."

"Okay," Kagome said, a little amazed that Kirara could express herself in a language of her own. But then, she had never suspected that fox-talk existed either.

Akira came up to her, "Please tell mom and dad: _Wareware wa hoho o mitsukerudarou._"

'_We will find a w__ay_,' Kagome thought to herself.

She looked at Akira, "I will. I promise."

"Thank you."

Hayato sighed, "Kagome, are you ready?"

"No," Kagome's jaw set firmly with determination, "Let's do it anyway."

The pink jewel disconnected from his collar and began to float at eye-level. Hayato instructed mysteriously, "Look into it."

Kagome nodded and peered into the pink gem. At first she only saw pinkness, but then she saw two chocolate eyes beyond it and a golden fox-face. The eyes were her own eyes. But in this form, her eyes were leaf green, so could not belong to the fox's face. Those were her human eyes.

It was also strange that the fox in the reflection had fur of a single tone. There were no highlights, no shadows, only pure, silky gold. It was beautiful, but strangely unnatural.

Kagome felt herself looking up into the eyes of the gold fox – her eyes – and momentarily felt the semi-familiar sensation of having her soul sucked away from her body. Her stomach jumped and a wave of nausea gripped her. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before opening them again to see a pair of lifeless leaf-green eyes staring back at her. The body of a golden furred fox collapsed, like a puppet with its string cut.

It took a disoriented Kagome a minute to realise she was looking at herself, or her body, at least. She finally got a good look at herself and the state she was in. One paw was twisted at an obviously wrong angle, her fur was covered in dirt and mud, there was a large bloody cut on her foreleg, and she looked as thin as a rail. She looked like a complete mess after yesterday and she wasn't exactly perfect before that either. Outside of her own body, Kagome was disturbed to see how lifeless she looked. But she didn't have time to dwell on that matter.

"Ah, you're through. That was well done, priestess," Hayato interrupted her thoughts.

Kagome rose to her paws in response. It felt strange to her. She didn't feel the grass beneath her paws, as though she was floating an inch above the ground. Everything alive had a glow to it and two distinct colours, which she found very strange. She could see pools of colour in everything, even the trees and the grass.

She turned to look at Hayato and saw a white fox with black markings, instead of Hayato's usual tan fur with brown and black markings. Even his usual amethyst eyes were black. However, beyond that strange image, Hayato's real body could still be seen. Vaguely, Kagome realised she was seeing both his soul and his body at the same time. Her mind spun.

'_Steady,' _he said, his voice echoing all around her, _'I know it's a lot to take in, but remember, you have a job to do.'_

Kagome shook herself, though she could not feel her fur against her skin as she should. It was an odd sensation. _'Thanks, I needed that.'_

'_Let's go.'_

She followed Hayato at a swift run, far beyond her human abilities or even her fox ones.

'_Wow,'_ Kagome muttered as the land seemed to fly past, _'How fast are you? How fast am I?'_

"_Me?_' Hayato answered, '_Fast enough that I cannot be seen with mortal eyes. You? You are literally however fast you believe you are.'_

'_I__ncredible!'_

She was still pondering this, when she saw something that caused her to skid to a halt.

A demon was striding towards them – a demon with a wolf tail and silky black hair tied up in a horsetail. He held a glass bottle with a cork jammed in the top. Kagome smelled salt.

It was Koga, and he was walking towards the clearing where Kagome's body, Kirara and Akira were.

'_It's just a wolf demon, he can't see you.'_ Hayato reassured her.

'_That's Koga!' _Kagome breathed, her eyes wide as she watched him walk closer.

'_Your other suitor?' _Hayato asked in surprise and then added,_ 'Besides the half demon, that is.'_

Kagome was distinctly glad she couldn't blush, _'Not really, but if he sees my body and thinks I'm dead, there will be hell to pay.'_

'_So what do we do about it? Go back?' _Hayato suggested.

But she shook her head, _'I don't think so...we'll have to explain when we get back.'_

Kagome knew this might turn out bad. She just prayed it would not turn out as bad as was possible.

Akira was curled up beside Kirara, who was currently in her demon form. Kirara's tails were curled around her, both of them, so she was as warm as possible. The motherly cat looked down at the fox, before sighing and resting her head on her forepaws. She watched as the dirty fur of the lifeless body of Kagome was blown in the gentle breeze. She wondered where the owner was and how Sango was fairing. She loved the demon slayer dearly, and missed her.

The great cat's heart hurt and the smell of lifelessness coming from Kagome bothered her, as well as the smell of Inuyasha on her wound. Seeing two of her party hurt each other so was not easy for the great cat, and neither was running from the closest thing to a kit she had ever had. Sango…

Yet again, she had failed to protect her partner. If only Sango was here now. Kirara covered her nose with her paws, trying to block out the smell of the lifeless fox.

Something else worried her as well. Even after the curse was placed on Kagome, she had still smelled human, at least to Kirara. But she was slowly beginning to smell more of fox than of human. It worried her. The potion Kazuo had been giving her seemed to have helped, but still she slowly began to smell more foxlike. And now she wasn't taking the potion because the fox-mother wasn't here to make it.

She smelled even more like a fox than yesterday. Kirara worried that, if they did not rescue Kazuo within the next couple of days, Kagome would be more fox than human before she got more of the potion.

But this body, this seemingly lifeless body of a fox, was also proof that something _was_ being done. Her little ragtag group had certainly been through enough to handle themselves.

Kirara looked at the golden fox and, careful not to wake Akira, stood up. She walked to the gold-furred animal and silently began to wash her; the tiny hook-shaped hairs on the cat's tongue collected dirt and mud and smoothed the fur. She could not bear to see the body in such disarray, even if it was not truly dead.

The great cat wrinkled her nose slightly at the scent of blood and gently moved Kagome's body to observe the gash she had acquired on her foreleg. It was bad. The wound definitely had bits of dirt and mud under the feeble clot that had formed, and it was most likely infected.

Kirara leaned forwards and sniffed. She snorted and sat back. It was definitely infected. Anger flared in her chest – anger at the beast who had pitted her friends against one another.

As far as she was concerned, they were her responsibility. And they were definitely a family; they had become one slowly, but surely. And now this monster was trying to split her family in two. So many of her families had already been broken. But not this one. No, she would not let this family of hers be shattered.

Kirara looked at the demon fox cub who lay sleeping behind her. A little vixen, whose parents had been taken away from her for no reason. It wasn't fair. Kirara was a mother – she considered herself one – a mother to her strange and mismatched family. She was a cat, and cats tend to decide those things for themselves.

A mother protects her young whatever they may be – be they kits, humans, or cubs.

And those who anger a mother must tread carefully.

The great cat was as close to the edge as possible.

It wouldn't take much to make her snap.


End file.
